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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28724304">Flowers Grow Through Concrete</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JB_Lark/pseuds/JB_Lark'>JB_Lark</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hunter X Hunter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Blood and Injury, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Sickfic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:35:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>29,571</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28724304</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JB_Lark/pseuds/JB_Lark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Whew, that was something else. You blew those guys clear out into the woods!” Uvo said, enthusiastic and boisterous a little too close to Shal’s face. But instead of being annoyed, he was hit by an unexpected wave of relief. Before he could think of what to do the thought raced through his head. <em>Uvo. Uvo’s here. I’m safe. </em>And he didn’t even have the wherewithal to be worried about that yet."</p><p> </p><p>Shalnark overdoes it with Auto-pilot mode and is forced to reconcile with his feelings for Uvogin.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Uvogin | Ubogin/Shalnark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>105</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Tofis Fave Reads</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Thistle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I started rewatching Hunter x Hunter and there's not enough Shalnark screentime. Is this ship dead <strike>literally</strike>?</p><p> Hope not because I'm ~obsessed~ again.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shalnark hated the idea of falling in love. When he passed couples on the streets, more often than not sweet girls in gauzy dresses clutching the arms of doe-eyed men, he always had to suppress the urge to laugh. Too often people they dispatched on the job cited girlfriends or wives as a reason to spare them as if the idea of<em> love</em> would be the thing that stopped the infamous Phantom Troupe. Love made people stupid, he decided.</p><p>Falling in love seemed like one of the most out-of-control things someone could do which was more than enough reason for Shal to stay away. He quite liked being in control. There was nothing like the feeling he got when he used Black Voice. The high of having absolute control over a human life, the most notoriously free-willed thing, was unparalleled. Unfortunately, it made his other Nen ability feel a bit like a slap to the face. Not only was the backlash deterrent enough, muscles aching for days after only engaging it for a few seconds, but it required him to give up control entirely until Auto-pilot ended. In theory, he was under his own control and it would end the moment the objective <em>he</em> set was completed, but a lot could change in the heat of battle, and while in Auto-pilot he couldn’t consciously analyze the situation and adjust accordingly. </p><p>Shalnark would never forget the horrifying moment he realized he was falling in love. Uvo was a typical enhancer; loud, hard-headed, and straight forward to a fault. His brand of thunderous honesty simultaneously irritated Shal and put him at ease. It was easy to know what the enhancer was thinking and knowing what someone was thinking was a powerful thing. Shalnark found himself relaxing in Uvo’s presence, content with the knowledge that there was nothing complexly devious brewing in Uvo’s head. He said what he meant and he meant what he said. It was as simple as that. </p><p>Shalnark knew how he came across, all cheery smiles and blond hair and childishly large green eyes. Some people found it off-putting once they deduced that there was something more to his childish expressions, and of course, all the spiders knew that immediately given their shared profession. To say that Uvo hadn’t cared in the slightest would be an understatement. </p><p>Uvo had been the first to welcome him warmly to the troupe, after Chrollo of course. Despite knowing next to nothing about Shalnark, the fact that he had joined the troupe was enough for the enhancer. The others followed at their own paces, some warier than others, some more content on their own. But Uvo was always there, loud and stubborn and honestly a little much at times. Once he decided to befriend the new member of the spiders there was no stopping him, typical enhancer. It had annoyed him at first, although he hid it for the most part out of habit. But soon enough he felt himself subconsciously gravitating towards the enhancer and at first he thought nothing of it. He didn’t notice his feelings towards the enhancer grow unchecked within him like the weeds he used to see in Meteor city that fought their way up through the concrete. </p><p>Uvo, on the other hand, wasn’t as subtle with his feelings. After all, subtly was rarely a word that crossed Uvogin’s mind. He began slinging his arm casually around the blond while they chatted and complimenting him boisterously on little things that made Nobunaga shoot a side-eyed glance at his old friend. He let Shal lean against him when they had downtime in whatever run-down building or hotel they had holed up in as the manipulator tapped absentmindedly away at his phone. Uvogin often attracted a little too much attention to go out on casual food runs, but on the off chance he did go, he would make sure to snag a packet of the weird spicy chips that he knew Shal liked. There were signs and it was only in hindsight that Shalnark realized it was willful ignorance on his part that led to him being as blindsided as he was. It was only during the aftershocks of a particularly disastrous battle that he realized how deeply his feelings for Uvogin ran. </p><p>Things had gone wrong right out of the gate. Shal, Uvo, and Nobunaga had been running some reconnaissance through a wooded area where they were hoping to intercept a transport the following day. They were searching for a clearing in the dense trees that would provide them enough room to engage, or rather eliminate any security, but was secluded enough that backup wouldn’t be able to reach their targets until they were long gone, treasure in hand. Normally Uvo and Nobu were the last ones to volunteer for these types of planning missions, Uvogin especially as he preferred to entirely avoid the strategic element of what they did and go in fists swinging, but the other spiders had also expressed a disinterest in this particular outing and they ended up drawing the short straws. Shalnark on the other hand didn’t mind errands like these. They were nothing compared to the actual thrill of the heist, but knowing exactly where they’d be fighting, being able to see what obstacles were where, and how many vantage points there were, gave him a sense of confidence. He figured that with knowledge and sheer strength combined, they’d never lose. Losing happened when someone was caught off guard when they lost control of the situation.</p><p>Which was exactly what happened to the spiders as they scouted the area, none the wiser to the fact that their targets had been tipped off. Instead of gathering the information to set up an ambush, they were strolling right into one. And unfortunately for them, their adversaries had done their research. Instead of sending cannon fodder goons armed with nothing but flimsy firearms and overconfidence, they were met by hired nen users, skilled enough to lay in wait without giving themselves away to any of the spiders. </p><p>The fight went from bad to worse as they were jumped by nen users who seemed to have an acute knowledge of the basics of all three spider’s Hatsus. Several of their adversaries must have been other manipulators because it took four attempts for Shalnark to pin anything with Black Voice, even when he did he kept having to settle for weak toys that did little damage and broke quickly. The glances that he was able to steal between hits revealed that neither Nobunaga nor Uvogin were faring much better. One of Uvo’s adversaries seemed to have an ability that reflected his own, or something along those lines. It was hard to gauge as he was being forced to flit around the battlefield to avoid beasts controlled by other manipulators who were either disguised somewhere in the fray or tucked away in one of the vantage points they had been meaning to scout. </p><p>The fight was at a standstill, and they were getting tired. He didn’t yet fear for any of their lives, but the stalemate they were in had the potential to make a turn for the worse. Seeing no other way to end this quickly, he made a choice and pierced his second antenna through the skin of his thigh with a wince. Heat spiked through his body and a yellow blaze obscured his vision like a flash of lightning. He let Auto-pilot take over. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The first thing Shalnark was aware of was large fingertips tapping his cheek, first gently the way someone would tap a bird or a rabbit or some other fragile thing, then more incessantly, hard enough for him to groan and roll his head away. Immediately he felt the telltale soreness in his neck, it spread hotly down through his traps causing the muscles of his upper back to tense against the packed dirt. </p><p>The fingers against his cheek paused for a moment and then continued annoyingly drumming against the side of his face. He lifted a hand, bicep and forearm shaking in protest, and dropped it ungracefully onto the large set of knuckles resting over his cheek. </p><p>Sound came back to him slowly. First, a light ringing followed by the muffled sound of small stones shifting beneath the hairs on the back of his head, and finally a familiar voice. </p><p>“-mon Shal,” the voice above him was deep and loud. “We’re la-... meet danchou.”</p><p>His cheek pushed up against the hand on his face as he shut his eyes tightly before blinking them open. Having gathered that he was laying on his back in the dirt he expected to be blinded by sunlight high in the sky, but instead, a full mane of hair silhouetted by sky blocked the light. Uvo smiled at him as they made eye contact and tapped his fingers once more against Shalnark’s cheek. “Whew, that was something else. You blew those guys clear out into the woods!” He said, enthusiastic and boisterous a little too close to Shal’s face. But instead of being annoyed, he was hit by an unexpected wave of relief. Before he could think of what to do, what to say, what to think, the thought raced through his head. <em>Uvo. Uvo’s here. I’m safe. </em>And he didn’t even have the wherewithal to be worried about that yet. </p><p>	He heard Nobunaga’s voice from somewhere behind him but couldn’t be bothered to turn his head. It was unlikely he’d be able to see the other enhancer behind Uvo’s towering form anyway. </p><p>	“You alright?” Uvo questioned after a moment. Suddenly, he was aware of how painfully vulnerable he looked sprawled flat on the ground, characteristic smile absent from his face as he regained his bearings.</p><p>	“I hate auto-pilot,” he pouted, rolling to one side slowly, soreness radiating through his back and shoulder. Uvo shifted back onto his heels as the manipulator turned towards him. He planted a hand on the ground and pushed himself up, or tried to. The burning pain in his forearm was immediate, forcing his body to a shuddering halt only a few inches off the ground. Damn, how long had he had to use auto-pilot? It must’ve been more than thirty seconds or so, maybe a minute to coldcock him like this. </p><p>	Before the muscles in his arm gave out completely, Uvo’s broad palm slipped under his chest and vaulted him into a sitting position. The abrupt posture change forced him to blink stars out of his eyes as he fought down an unpleasant surge of nausea deep in his gut. He cursed their previous opponents for employing enough manipulators to deny him a good toy to use Black Voice on. </p><p>	Uvo’s other hand clapped his shoulder, palm stretching from the middle of his collarbone to the top of his bicep. “C’mon buddy, we gotta go. Nobu already contacted danchou and we don’t wanna be late.” </p><p>	He giggled listlessly, “We’re already late, Uvo.” Their original plan had been to move in and out of the area quickly to avoid raising any kind of suspicion. Unbeknownst to them, that was a bit of a moot point as there had already been an ambush waiting for them. Then the fight had gone on for fifteen or twenty minutes before Shalnark had used auto-pilot. He didn’t have to check the time to know that they were definitely late for their original meeting time.</p><p>	He saw Nobunaga approach from over Uvogin’s shoulder. His arms were crossed, but his expression was neutral. He looked alright, other than a smattering of slowly drying blood along his jaw. Shalnark could also see the subtle limp as he walked that he was attempting to hide rather poorly. “The plans changed,” he informed the blond, “We’re regrouping back at the hideout.” </p><p>	Shalnark hadn’t moved, still sitting partially supported by Uvo’s grip on his shoulder. His legs burned at the mere thought of standing, and his stomach was still shifting uncomfortably, nausea ebbing in and out as he breathed. The initial sense of confusion that came with regaining consciousness had faded, but he still felt disoriented and completely drained. Shal struggled to keep his eyes focused on Uvo’s face as he fought off the pull of exhaustion. In short, he felt like shit twice reheated. </p><p>	The vulnerability of his position caused a wave of irritation to bubble up in his gut along with the ambient queasiness. He felt the smile flickering on and off of his face as he internally berated himself for ending up helpless on the ground. The satisfaction of winning wasn’t there to soften the blow. He just had to rely on the assumption that their opponents were laying in pieces around the clearing, with no actual memory of the fight. </p><p>	Evidently, Uvo took his zoned-out stillness as a go-ahead to slip his hand around the blond’s opposite hip and lift Shal over his shoulder as he stood.</p><p>	“Uvo!,” Shalnark yelped at the sudden feeling of being lifted. The manipulator wasn’t small by any means, but Uvogin was easily able to sling Shal over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. It was obnoxious. He hit the enhancer’s miraculously still clothed back in protest as hard as he could in his current state. The force of his punch didn’t deter Uvogin in the slightest, not exactly to his surprise. A new wave of nausea bubbled hotly in his stomach as the position he was in pressed his abdomen into Uvogin’s shoulder. “<em>Uvo</em>, I’m gonna puke.” </p><p>	Uvo scrambled to put him back down before the blond upchucked down his back. Shalnark heard Nobunaga scolding Uvo about the enhancer's brutish tendencies as he kneeled on the ground and took several deep shaky breaths. He found himself giggling at Nobunaga’s scolding. Two enhancers arguing about being boorish was too ironic for him not to laugh, but the action made his stomach tense which almost immediately sent a surge of bile up his throat. </p><p>Nobunaga made a sound that was part sympathetic, part disgusted as the manipulator braced his hands on the ground and vomited bodily. The dry heaving motion made his already spent muscles scream in a way that nearly brought tears to his eyes. Fortunately, it was over quickly as there wasn’t much in his stomach in the first place, and after he was done the feeling of nausea lessened greatly. Better out than in, he supposed. “Elch<em>, </em>gross,” he groaned as he spat a final mouthful of bile on the ground and tried to steady his shaking arms on the ground.</p><p>Uvo kneeled back down next to him and patted his back in a more careful, apologetic way. “Ah, sorry,” he said, sounding uncharacteristically sheepish, “Don’t worry. I’m sure Machi can help fix you up!” Shalnark didn’t bother explaining that there was nothing Machi could do, besides throw some painkillers at him, that would mitigate the backlash of his own Hatsu. “I don’t want you to hurl again, but we’re really gonna be late…” Uvo said, thinking out loud.</p><p>The blond giggled again, it came out softer than he expected. “Always worried about being late,” he mused. It was funny to him that someone as tough-looking and burly as Uvo was so concerned with tardiness. How would the average person even go about reprimanding someone as gargantuan as Uvo for being late? He laughed under his breath again at the thought.</p><p>Regardless, he could see that Uvo was getting impatient by the way his hands kept hovering closer to the blond as he contemplated hoisting Shal up again, so he added, “I’m OK now.” </p><p>It was mostly a lie. Overall, he felt worse than he had when he first came to. The last thing his achy body had needed was to deal with the exertion of dry heaving. His abs burned and shuddered, far past overworked. Even the subtle movement of drawing in a breath sent burning pain through his chest. He stubbornly blinked away the subtle vignette of blackness that was lingering on the edges of his vision. Passing out once in front of Uvogin and Nobunaga had been embarrassing enough, even though that wasn’t the first time he’d overexerted himself with his nen ability in front of them. </p><p>Nobunaga looked skeptical, one eyebrow cocking up as he watched the way Shalnark was shaking, but Uvogin took the green-light without comment and lowered his palm onto Shal’s back as he contemplated the best way to pick the blond up. He started by slipping his hands under Shalnark’s arms and hauling him away from the slowly dissipating puddle of vomit. The manipulator pouted at the feeling of being manhandled, but let himself be dragged back. He nearly toppled over when Uvo’s hands left him without warning, but he caught himself reflexively on the ground, wincing as it sent a fresh stab of pain through his forearms. </p><p>That motion turned out to be the final straw for the overexerted muscles in his arms and they gave out after only a second, sending him lurching forward. But Uvo reappeared in front of him, crouched down again, broad back facing the blond. “Whoa, buddy,” he said, as Shalnark leaned into him unexpectedly. He didn’t comment this time as Uvo reached behind and worked his hands under Shal’s upper thighs, lifting him again. The movement was still jarring as the enhancer hoisted him up, front flush against Uvo’s back. He was high enough to rest his chin on Uvogin’s shoulder as long as he ignored the enhancer’s wild mane of hair. </p><p>He watched Nobunaga walk in front of them once he seemed sure the blond wouldn’t delay them again. Shalnark adjusted his arms sluggishly over Uvo’s shoulders and giggled, sounding a little out of it, “You look short from here, Nobu,” he teased, “Heh, shorty.”</p><p>Nobunaga’s eye twitched, “I’m taller than you,” he rebutted, sounding annoyed in the way he only got with other spiders. “And everyone looks short compared to Uvo.”</p><p>The manipulator turned his cheek into Uvogin’s collarbone and didn’t reply. He smiled into Uvo’s hair, breathing in the smell of musk, blood, and cheap woodsy shampoo. Somewhere in his mind, he recognized that he was acting strange as the treacherous feeling of safety that only Uvo brought him overwhelmed his tired mind. Never in his life had he craved the feeling of being protected. It was better to be powerful, he thought. That was the way of Meteor City and it was the way of the Phantom Troupe. Hell, It was the way of the whole damn dog-eat-dog world. </p><p>Nowhere in his logical mind could he justify the way he allowed himself to relax completely against Uvo’s back. He should be fighting to keep his head up, to show the other spiders that, even while indisposed, he was still alert and lucid. He should be showing them that he was <em>strong</em>, not just allowing himself to be carried like a ragdoll back to their hideout. Rationally he knew this, but that didn’t stop him from dropping his head onto Uvo’s shoulder and letting the enhancer’s heavy rhythmic steps lull him into a state of calm. </p><p>Thoughts tumbled through his mind as he lost track of time. All he wanted to do was lay down on that shitty bed Uvo had made out of discarded mattresses on the floor of their hideout and fall asleep with his head on the enhancer’s arm. He wanted the feeling of safety he felt now to stay with him. He wanted to let his guard down in the way that normally made him sick to his stomach, the way he hadn’t been able to do since before he came to Meteor city as a child. The broad muscles of Uvogin’s back shifted against his chest as Uvo readjusted his grip on the manipulator as carefully as he could. His blond hair brushed Uvo’s shoulder as his head rested limply near the crook of the enhancer’s neck. </p><p>Nobunaga’s baritone voice floated at the edges of his consciousness. “Finally sacked out?” He asked as he watched Shalnark’s arms bob listlessly over his friend’s shoulders. The manipulator smirked faintly into Uvo’s thick hair. He felt boneless in Uvo’s grip, but he could still hear their voices buzzing around him in his dreamlike state</p><p>“Yeah,” Uvo’s voice rumbled close to his ear. “That Auto-pilot of his is crazy, huh? See why he doesn’t use it much though.” </p><p>There was a pause before Nobu responded, at least he thought there was. He could only judge time by the thrumming of Uvo’s steps below him, steady and weighted.  “Do you… feel something for him? More than just another spider I mean,” Nobunaga asked finally, his voice faint and awkward to Shalnark’s ears. </p><p>	Uvo hummed deep enough that it reverberated through his back against Shal’s chest. He felt his breath stutter as he waited for Uvo to speak. “Yeah, I think so,” he replied simply, sounding wholly honest. Deep down, Shalnark had suspected that already, but the plain admittance still stunned him. Although at that moment, the feeling of surprise didn’t truly hit him, still dazed and tired, half-asleep in the enhancer’s grip. All his emotions felt muted and distant, like how he felt about his dreams after waking up. </p><p>	“Well, just be careful,” Nobunaga’s voice was fading. He couldn’t summon the motivation to focus as the swordsman’s low voice dissolved into an unintelligible murmur. He felt Uvo’s back shift against him one more time, the finer hairs on his head brushing against Shal’s face, and then there was the rumbling of an engine accompanied by the resonating sounds of traditional instruments crackling through a speaker next to his head. The fabric car seat was rough against his cheek and a quick survey of his position revealed that Uvo was nowhere to be found. The feeling of security that had allowed him to slip into that half-sleep state was gone, left in its place was the strong desire to compose himself before they met up with the other spiders. </p><p>	He blinked his eyes open and was met by one of the coffee-colored seatbacks from the truck they had swiped upon entering the city. There were dried patches of blood on rubber matting below both front seats because someone had made the mistake of allowing Feitan to be in charge of acquiring transportation. Fortunately, there had been no passengers in the back seat he was currently slumped on, or the musty smell below his face would likely be even more unpleasant than it already was. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Nobunaga’s hands gripping the steering wheel from the driver’s seat. </p><p>	“Nobu, how close are we?” he asked languidly, turning his head towards the front of the car. </p><p>Nobunaga jumped slightly and glanced back at him, dark eyes meeting Shalnark’s half-lidded gaze. Even now there was a soft smile on the manipulator’s face, a far cry from his usual wide grin, but still slightly unsettling in Nobunaga’s opinion. He turned back to the road with a light huff. “Still about twenty minutes,” he answered.</p><p>	“Where’s Uvo?” Shal asked as he contemplated the idea of sitting up. The soreness was bad, worse than the last few times he’d been forced to use Auto-pilot. Even if he could maintain a sitting position, he was doubtful that he’d be able to get there without making a fool of himself. </p><p>	“In the back, of course,” Nobu replied as if he were stating the obvious. <em>Oh, right.</em> Shalnark remembered the whole reason they’d swiped a truck in the first place was so that Uvogin could ride in the back, saving them from having to be crushed against the windows by Uvo’s massive stature. </p><p>	The blond began rearranging himself slowly, wincing as he lifted his knees, trying to lay in a position that looked more casual. If he couldn’t sit up he was at least going to avoid looking like a ragdoll that had been thrown on the back seat, even though that’s essentially what had happened. The lavender fabric of his pants was torn on one knee from when he’d been thrown across the clearing right before he decided to use Auto-pilot. </p><p>	He fumbled in his pocket that wasn’t pinned between his thigh and the seatback and found his phone tucked away safely. Pulling it out he tried to find a game that would keep him alert until they arrived, but he struggled to keep his eyes focused on the screen. After about five minutes, he gave up and stowed it away again. </p><p>	“Hey, how come I was in Auto-pilot so long?” He asked Nobunaga. The swordsman glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “They didn’t seem <em>that</em> tough.” </p><p>	“Some of the manipulators were hunkered down in some weird places with a bunch of defensive nen or something,” Nobu said, “I think it just took you a little bit to find them.” </p><p>	Shalnark hummed in response before annoyance settled in. “I hate Auto-pilot,” he pouted again. </p><p>	Nobunaga didn’t reply as he turned off of the main road onto one of the overgrown side streets that led towards the abandoned house they’d settled in for the week. The manipulator winced as the car jostled over rocky, uneven ground, sending stabs of pain through the sore muscles in his back. He badly wanted to lean over the seat and see Uvo reclined against the back window. The thought made him blush as he suddenly recalled the short conversation he’d overheard between Uvo and Nobunaga. He remembered the thoughts that had been circling his head and it was only then that the anxiousness truly hit him.</p><p>	He had feelings for Uvo. It was a fact, he couldn’t deny it. <em>He had feelings for Uvo.</em> A different kind of nausea knotted in his gut, only spurred on by the car seat rattling over cracked concrete below him. He felt flushed and sick and tired all at once, but he couldn’t seem to relax his muscles or take a deep breath. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh or cry, but as Nobunaga peered at him again through the rearview mirror he schooled his expression instinctually. He had to stay in control. He could get a handle on this, he told himself. </p><p>	He’d clearly gotten sloppy, allowing himself to develop feelings like that for someone. Had growing up in Meteor city taught him nothing? Love made people stupid, that’s what he had decided. He saw it when he passed couples on the streets, sweet girls in gauzy dresses clutching the arms of doe-eyed men, He saw it when people they dispatched on the job cited girlfriends or wives as a reason to spare them as if the idea of<em> love</em> would be the thing that stopped the infamous Phantom Troupe. But then, he thought back to Meteor city, and the weeds there that grew through the concrete rubble. It was a barren place, but if you walked for long enough through the junkyard you’d find vines twisting through the cracks in stone debris. Once they grew past a single strand, they were nearly impossible to disentangle from the wreckage.</p><p>	The car eased to a stop in the shade of a medium-sized house covered in peeling paint and missing chunks of siding. Shalnark felt the whole truck rock the moment they came to a halt and a moment later the door just behind his head flung open with a high whine. Uvogin grinning down at him, upside down from his angle. “Hey! Look who’s up,” he commented vociferously. Shal tried desperately to still the thoughts in his head and smiled back at the enhancer.</p><p>	“Mind helping me out?” he asked, lifting his arms above his head. Uvo gripped his arms around the tricep and pulled the blond out. He winced as the motion tugged hard at his sore shoulders, but covered it with a small laugh. The enhancer slid his hands under Shal’s arms and set him down on the gravel carefully, unsure if the blond would be able to stand just yet. The pain was immediate as he settled his weight over his feet. He could feel the ache burn through his thighs and calves like the muscles had become live-wires. Through sheer willpower, he was able to stay on his feet, trying to ignore the way his legs shook with the effort. It was going to take him at least a week to recover from this. How annoying.</p><p>	As Uvo removed one hand from his torso, Shalnark clutched the enhancer’s other forearm tightly with both hands. “You alright?” Uvo asked, “I can carry you again, it’s no problem man.” He glanced up as Chrollo exited the building, face pinched with concern, both Pakunoda and Machi in tow. </p><p>	“I’m alright,” he replied, beaming up at him. Uvo glanced down as the blond’s hands gripped tightly at his arm, tight enough to send tremors through his hands. “Just... “ he started in a lower voice as the other spiders approached. Nobunaga moved away from the car and went to meet them. “Don’t leave,” he finished, the smile sliding from his face, then returning just as quickly. </p><p>	Uvo’s eyebrows shot up slightly as he stared down at Shalnark, but before he could comment Chrollo approached them, leaving Nobu and Paku to continue chatting behind them. Already the manipulator heard some subtly exaggerated comments about their previous adversaries as Nobu relayed details about the fight. Pakunoda just nodded, likely considering how they would adapt to this turn of events.</p><p>	“Oh, Shalnark,” Chrollo said, sounding sympathetic, “We’ll talk about what happened later, just get some rest for now.”</p><p>	“OK danchou,” he replied, sounding as lighthearted as he could manage. All he wanted to do was collapse on one of the mattresses they’d covered in stolen sheets and fall asleep. He could still feel the arduous weight of exhaustion tugging at his limbs as he swayed on his feet. As Chrollo moved away from them to continue his discussion with Nobunaga, Shal took a tentative step forward, feeling each crack in the concrete roll under his foot as he slowly transferred his weight. Uvo followed him slowly and patiently as he ambled across the driveway, leaning heavily on Uvogin’s arm like a crutch. He looked up from the ground at the enhancer’s face, expecting to see a slightly annoyed expression at his snail-like pace, but instead, he was met with a reassuring smile as Uvogin met his gaze. </p><p>	The other spiders watched them wordlessly, likely understanding that his insistence to walk was a pride thing. Many of them would’ve done the same. If they were surprised by Uvo’s practically doting behavior, they didn’t show it, but Shalnark felt Nobunaga’s eyes trained on them as they entered the house. He resisted the urge to look back.</p><p>	They stumbled past Feitan and Phinks who were reclined in the living room playing some sort of card game that involved a messy discard pile and a disproportionate amount of yelling on Phink’s part. Feitan glanced between Shalnark’s face and his hands which were clasped around the enhancer’s forearm like it was the only thing keeping him standing (because it was), but like the other spiders, he too said nothing. Instead, he threw down an ace on the assortment of upturned cards which drew another loud swear from Phinks, who threw his hand down on the ground. </p><p>	Uvogin steered him towards the room he’d taken up residence in alongside Paku as he began to lean more and more heavily into the enhancer’s side. If his legs had been shaking before they were absolutely rattling now, and it took all of his effort just to keep his knees over his ankles. He blinked hard and swallowed, fighting off the clammy, shock-like feeling of repeated overexertion. As Uvo opened the door revealing two twin mattresses pushed up against opposite walls he hesitated in the doorway. This wasn’t where he wanted to be. He remembered the unchecked thoughts he’d had while Uvogin carried him in that dreamlike place between sleep and wakefulness, the traitorous thought of laying against the enhancer’s chest, breathing in the smell of woodsy-soap as he finally allowed himself to rest.</p><p>	He wavered on his feet, shifting forward and backward between the doorway. Uvo’s other hand settled on his upper back to steady him, but it was too late. He pitched forward, legs folding beneath him like a cheap suitcase. “Whoa!” Uvogin startled. </p><p>“Ah-ha, so close.” He giggled and Uvo’s large hands scrambled to keep him from sliding to the ground. He had hoped the enhancer’s large frame would block his moment of weakness from the other spiders, but he had no such luck. </p><p>“You OK?” Feitan asked from over Uvo’s shoulder. He couldn’t see the transmuter, but he could hear his voice faintly from his spot on the floor. Phinks’ footsteps echoed behind Shal’s back as the other enhancer abandoned his game with Fei after his latest defeat. </p><p>Shalnark tried to get his feet under him but ended up unsuccessfully tipping back into Uvo’s stomach as the other man attempted to get a solid grip under his arms. “Mm-hmm,” he replied affirmatively, “Just tripped!” God, he wished he hadn’t used Auto-pilot. He thought it would only be a few seconds, but <em>no</em>, he’d had to go and play hide-and-seek with those nen users. </p><p>Once he stopped squirming to try and regain his footing, it wasn’t too difficult for Uvo to get his hands around the top of Shal’s rib cage and carry him across the small makeshift bedroom. Shalnark’s claimed mattress was nearly identical to Pakunoda’s, just a plain set of sheets tucked in at the corners and a few personal items stowed in a duffle bag on the floor, but Uvo set him on the correct one without him having to say anything. The tightly wound springs in the compact mattress pressed against him as he allowed Uvo to lay him on his side, chuckling at the focused look on Uvo’s face as he tried to lower Shal gently. </p><p>His childish concerns about Uvogin leaving took a back seat to the feeling of undeniable fatigue as his cheek settled into the pliant cotton pillow below his head. As Uvo stood up, his eyes traced the enhancer’s face, from the subtle downturn of his lips, lopsided and heavier at one corner of his mouth to the furrow of his brow as the low setting sun shone into his face through the boarded window. The last thought he had before exhaustion finally overcame him was the image of weeds growing through the rubble in Meteor City and the memory of Uvo’s hair silhouetted against the sky. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Violets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shalnark was woken by the feeling of a dream he had no distinct memories of lingering on the corners of his consciousness. An unidentifiable wistfulness hung over him like a haze so heavy that it had pulled him from sleep. Before his conscious brain could try and grasp for fragmented pieces of the dream, it had vanished entirely, leaving only a misplaced longing and the feeling of forgetting something important. </p><p>	The room was dark, and the only light he could see was a soft yellow glow from below the doorway that radiated across the faded paisley carpet. He rolled onto his back, ignoring the feeling of metal springs pressing into the achy muscles over his shoulder blades, and felt soft, downy fabric tangle around his legs. Odd, he didn’t remember having any blankets on his bed except for the cream-colored sheets that were still knotted beneath him. Before he could think about it much, the heavy feeling of drowsiness pulled him under again. </p><p>	The second time he woke it was still dark, the yellow light still shone under the door, but he hadn’t dreamed. He felt his phone press into his thigh, still tucked safely in his pant pocket, and fished it out as he blinked sleep from his eyes. He assumed it was night, but that seemed odd to him considering they had returned to the Troupe in the early evening. Flipping slowly to his side with a light groan he held the device in one hand, resting his knuckles on the pillow next to his head. The screen was fluorescent and bright in his eyes, but he welcomed the uncomfortable glare hoping it would wake him up. The digital clock flashing in the top corner read 1:14 am. He stared for a moment before it clicked; 1:14 am <em>the next day.</em></p><p>	He didn’t <em>feel</em> like he had slept for over a day, but a second check of the time confirmed it. Just about thirty hours, he figured. He was still tired and exceptionally sore, but he knew he should get up and drink some water at the very least. Setting his phone face down on the mattress he freed one leg from the covers and pushed himself up using both arms. The ache was still quite painful, but not unbearable, which was a stark improvement from earlier. Once he successfully rose to a lax seated position on the floor height mattress, he paused, sleepy and barefooted, running his thumbs over the stitches of the blanket pooled across his lap. He shook his head and forced himself out of his stupor.</p><p>	Pakunoda’s bed across the room was empty, sheets unwrinkled and tucked in tightly. He noted that her bag was also absent pointing to the fact that she’d moved. The house they’d taken over was barely large enough to house the troupe comfortably, and as it was no one had a room to themselves. If he hadn’t been in the troupe for so long he’d worry for a moment that he’d been left behind, but he knew that their loyalty ran too deep to do something like that. A few possibilities ran through his head; part of the troupe could have changed locations after the heist if Chrollo had decided to go through with it after the previous day’s disaster, and if he’d decided against that a smaller group might have gone off to investigate a new lead somewhere else in the city. The third, albeit less likely option, was that they had decided to part ways for now and only a spider or two had stayed behind to let him know. </p><p>	His stomach clenched as he began to shift his weight forward. He could feel concrete under the thinned out carpet, cool and solid against his feet. Come to think of it he didn’t remember taking his shoes off before he’d passed out either. If he’d had the energy he’s sure he would’ve changed into his sleep clothes as well considering the outfit he was still wearing was speckled with an unsightly amount of dried blood, disgustingly but fortunately not his own. </p><p>	Grabbing his phone from the mattress with one hand, he bit the bullet and rose to stand with a groan. His hamstring were painfully tight as he shifted to the balls of his feet and tried to find his center of balance on shaky legs. The room pitched to the side a few degrees forcing him to stagger out into a wider stance, but he managed to stay upright. He closed his eyes and took an unsteady breath as the tight nauseous feeling in his stomach returned with a vengeance. </p><p>	He trudged across the room, stubbornly attempting to ignore all the signs his body was giving him to lay back down. His hands found the splintered wooden door frame as he stumbled forward. God, this was impossible. Every muscle in his body was achy and tight, not to mention the dizziness and nausea. He would’ve thrown up already, but there was nothing solid in his stomach. An intense feeling of indignation forced a few frustrated tears to gather along his lash line. He cursed Auto-pilot and cursed his past self for deciding to use it in the first place.  </p><p>	If he was religious he would’ve prayed that none of the spiders were up to see him like this. He hadn’t heard any sounds coming from the main room, but he’d been fairly preoccupied with not puking or falling on his ass, so that wasn’t exactly a reliable assessment. In his years with the troupe, he’d become decently familiar with the other spider’s sleep schedules, or lack thereof in some cases. He’d already concluded that Pakunoda was likely absent, along with at least one or two others. Bono, Nobunaga, Shizuku, and Kortopi fell asleep at a decent time more often than not, assuming their heists allowed it. If the troupe hadn’t already dispersed, that left about half the spiders conceivably up at this hour. Pretty awful odds, but he’d have to take it. He took one more controlled breath and schooled his expression before pulling the door open soundlessly. </p><p>	The cracked tile floor was washed in pale moonlight accompanied by the glow of a lantern set up somewhere behind the sofa just out of his line of sight. The musty smell of old drywall and rotting wood was fainter here due to the cool breeze circulating through the open room. He spotted a pile of opaque shopping bags and plastic water bottles gathered haphazardly against the far wall along with a cardboard box full of discarded food wrappers. </p><p>	He padded towards the small heap of provisions slowly, wincing and gritting his teeth. The hot feeling of nausea continued to surge uncomfortably in his gut, but he clenched an arm tightly around his stomach and told himself that if he just drank some water he’d be able to alleviate the queasiness. Caught up in his efforts, he didn’t notice a figure reclined in the lantern light. Dark eyes perked up from the floor as the spider on watch was alerted by the soft sounds of footsteps and tense, exhaling breaths. </p><p>	Feitan leaped up immediately making quick eye contact with the startled blond. Shalnark’s shoulders jumped as yelped, “Fei! You scared me.” he laughed, trying to disguise the way he’d been completely caught off guard. His voice sounded scratchy even to his ears and he had to suppress the urge to cough. He should’ve known someone would be on watch after Chrollo learned that their plans had been mysteriously revealed to their would-be targets. It’s exactly the kind of precautionary measure danchou took after situations like that. </p><p>	The transmuter looked him up and down once, eyes shaded in the low light. “You sit,” Feitan ordered, stepping around the loveseat in a single motion. “I get Uvo.” </p><p>	Shalnark blanched, back straightening in surprise. “What? Uv-? No, no it’s OK” He hurriedly replied as the other spider strode down the hallway away from him. “Fei wait!” he yelled before slapping a hand over his mouth. The last thing he wanted to do was wake up every damn person in the building.</p><p>	His face felt hot and feverish as he remembered how he had fallen asleep on Uvogin’s back, carried away from the battlefield like a fussy child, unable to even walk on his own. He could picture the reassuring look on Uvo’s face as the enhancer led him from the car. <em>Pity,</em> he told himself rapidly, <em>it was pity. It had to be. </em>His heel hit a crack in the tile as he backed away from the direction Feitan had vanished in. He decided that he couldn’t let Uvogin see him that weak again.</p><p>	The fluorescent lantern light bled across his vision in a starburst pattern as he blinked away a wave of vertigo. He took another instinctual step towards the door behind him, unwittingly rolling his foot underneath him with a short stab of pain. He fell on his ass hard, arms flailing uselessly, still too sluggish to react at his usual speed. A door closed loudly down the opposite hall as he cursed irritably under his breath. </p><p>	Uvo’s shadow appeared on the wall behind him as the enhancer glanced around the room. He held his breath and leaned forward between his knees as if, somewhere deep down, he foolishly thought that Uvogin would just leave. What a picture this was, he thought, hiding behind a couch to avoid seeing a man he had a crush on like some ditzy grade-schooler. The idea of it made him about as sick as the very real urge to vomit that he was struggling to hold down. </p><p>	“Shal?” Uvo’s voice sounded as he hurried further into the room. </p><p>	Shalnark sighed. “I’m here,” he admitted as Uvo rounded the corner in front of him. The enhancer’s hair was even more disheveled than usual, pressed unevenly to one side. “Sorry, I don’t know why Fei woke you up.” he grinned sheepishly. </p><p>	“Whoa, you look terrible,” he said, sounding genuinely shocked as he kneeled so he didn’t have to crane his neck down at the blond.</p><p>	“Gee thanks,” the manipulator replied deadpan. In Uvo’s defense, he probably did. He couldn’t tell if the dizziness meant his face was too pale or the feverish feeling meant he was flushed.</p><p>	“Wait no,” Uvo sputtered, hand resting on Shal’s extended leg. “That’s not- I mean- are you OK?” </p><p>	He pulled his knees closer to his body away from the enhancer. “I’m fine,” he snapped, quicker than he had intended to. He couldn’t count on a single hand how many times Uvo had asked him that question recently. How many times had Uvo been forced to worry about him in the past two days alone? Embarrassment burned in his chest. “I just needed some water,” he added in a lighter voice. </p><p>“Oh sure,” Uvo turned away from him and leaned over to grab a plastic water bottle that was laying on its side next to the pile. As he turned back, the manipulator’s body jolted and he held a hand over his mouth, shutting his eyes tightly. “Uh, are you gonna hurl?”</p><p>Shalnark just nodded tensely, afraid of what would happen if he opened his mouth. He could feel the hot bitter taste in the back of his throat and knew that he was just holding back the inevitable at this point. Maybe he should’ve texted Machi and asked if she had any antiemetics <em>before </em>he decided to try walking around, although she probably wouldn’t have been too happy to be woken up at one in the morning for something as basic as that (if she was even still in the building).</p><p>“OK, OK hold on,” Uvo said as he grabbed at the stack of provisions again. Under normal circumstances, Shal would’ve laughed at that request, because <em>exactly what else would he be doing</em>. He heard the sound of rustling and the soft thump of packaging hitting tile as Uvogin upended one of the plastic bags onto the floor. His chest jolted again, filling his mouth with acidic liquid as Uvo thrust the empty bag into his line of sight just in time. </p><p>He grappled the bag from the enhancer and pulled it flush against his face, gagging hard. Uvo’s hand settled awkwardly on the back of his shoulder, fingers splayed across his delts to his collarbone. He wanted to hate the feeling of Uvo’s broad palm resting against his skin, but he found himself instinctually shrugging his shoulder up into the enhancer’s grip, finding comfort in the contact as he dry-heaved. </p><p>	As soon as he was done, he crumbled the mouth of the bag between his hands and tied a knot in the top to stifle the offensive vinegary smell. “Uhg, <em>gross</em>,” he grumbled. On one hand, his queasiness had now settled into something more manageable than the stomach-clenching sense of nausea it had been before. On the other hand, vomiting was absolutely disgusting, and having to do it twice in as many days was beyond unpleasant.</p><p>	“Here,” Uvo said, passing him the water bottle he’d grabbed earlier without removing his hand from the blond’s shoulder. Shalnark set the bag down on the floor next to his hip and took the water gladly, eager to get the overly bitter taste of stomach acid out of his mouth. The water was stagnant and slightly metallic as he sipped on it slowly. </p><p>	“Is Machi here?” he asked after a moment. His nausea may have faded for the moment, but the ache in his muscles was still intense, not to mention the vertigo. The quicker he could keep some medicine down the quicker he’d be able to start functioning at a bare minimum level and stop inconveniencing the other spiders. The troupe members rarely got sick, so he doubted anyone else would have anything more than a few stray band-aids on them, if that. </p><p>	The enhancer shook his head, “No, a bunch of them left yesterday to check something out across the city. Some socialite’s private collection or something. Why? Do you need her?” </p><p>	“Ah, no, I’m fine,” he tried to dismiss Uvo’s concerns with a small smile, “I just had a question for her. It can wait,” he lied. It was then he realized that Uvo’s palm was still resting warmly on his shoulder, thumb idly brushing the fabric of his shirt. What was probably meant to be a reassuring touch suddenly felt too intimate for him to bear and he shrugged Uvo’s hand off with a sharp motion, ignoring the confused look on the other man’s face. </p><p>	He took a few more controlled sips from the plastic bottle as Uvo cleared his throat. “Do you want to sit on the couch or lay down or…?” he trailed off. </p><p>	“Probably be better than the tile huh?” he joked with a tepid smile. Uvo’s brow quirked up at the blond’s hot-and-cold behavior, but he didn’t comment as he reached forward to grab Shalnark’s arm with the intention of helping him stand. The manipulator jerked away from his hand. “No, it’s OK. I got it,” Shal said, reaching up to grab the back of the couch. The motion stretched the muscles over his ribs painfully and he concealed a wince as he started to pull himself up. Uvo’s hands floated around him hesitantly about a foot away as the enhancer watched him struggle to his feet and when his knee buckled into the back of the couch, Uvo’s hand was under his arm immediately to take the weight. He’d normally find Uvo’s insistence to help sweet, but at that moment the touch made him bristle. “I said I got it!” he snapped uncharacteristically. </p><p>	“I’m just trying to help!” Uvo retorted, voice too loud in Shal’s ear. “Why are you being so weird about this?” </p><p>	Logically, Shalnark knew that Uvogin truly just wanted to help. If the enhancer thought he was weak, he would tell him as much. Uvo wasn’t the type to pretend to care about someone as part of a complicated, long-haul scheme to build trust so he could profit from it later. It was one of his favorite things about Uvo as a person. It was the reason he’d gravitated so intensely towards the other man. So rationally, he was certain that what Uvo said was true. But he still felt himself seething unreasonably as he pushed Uvo’s hand off of his ribs.</p><p>“I’m <em>not</em>,” he said in a cross tone, leaning on the back of the couch with both hands. “Why are you hovering so much, huh?” </p><p>“I’m not <em>hovering</em>, I’m just trying to make sure you don’t fall on your ass again!” the taller man countered, waving his hands expressively. </p><p>Shalnark craned his head to look up at the other man now that they were both standing. “Well I’m <em>fine</em>,” he spat back.</p><p>“Are you kidding?” Uvo exclaimed, halfway between a shout and an exasperated laugh, “You’re clearly not!” The manipulator made a sour expression but didn’t reply. </p><p>A third irritated voice sounded from down the hall, “God, shut the fuck up! Some of us are trying to fucking sleep!” Phinks leaned out of the first door down the hallway, eyes narrowed angrily, blond hair mused to one side. </p><p>Uvogin just waved back at the other spider dismissively. With the volume of their conversation, Shal was surprised this was the first complaint they’d gotten. All of the spiders had adapted to be fairly light sleepers, so he highly doubted that Phinks was the only person they’d woken up. He just had to hope that no one was interested enough to be listening through the walls. </p><p>The enhancer’s shadow trailed behind him as he turned and made his way around the three-seater couch. His hands sunk into the deflated cushioning over the armrest as he dropped himself down in the corner seat. Blond hair fanned across his forehead as he tipped his head back and closed his eyes with a sigh. He flinched as a small, concentrated weight hit the top of his thigh and settled between his legs. Uvo was standing with his arms crossed near the end of the couch, one hand extended after tossing Shal’s water bottle underhand into the blond’s lap. </p><p>He muttered thanks under his breath and took a couple more slow sips from the bottle as Uvogin sat on the other end of the sofa, leaving the majority of the center seat unoccupied between them. He wanted to hold onto the anger he’d accumulated, but he felt it dissipating like smoke in the air as they sat in silence. Anger was easy to understand. Whatever he honestly felt for the enhancer was more complicated. Eventually, he put the plastic water bottle back down in his lap and sighed. “Why did Feitan wake you up?” he asked, voice strangely soft. </p><p>Uvo blinked for a moment, surprised, before replying, “Oh, because I asked him to.”</p><p>“Yeah, but <em>why?”</em> Shal reiterated, rolling his head to look at the other man. Uvo was partially turned towards him, knees too high above his hips as he tried to sit comfortably on the average-sized couch. </p><p>“Because I wanted to make sure you were alright?” he replied, sounding slightly disconcerted. </p><p>Shalnark looked at Uvogin’s perplexed expression and was overcome by a misplaced fit of laughter. Here he was beside himself, madly trying to untangle an entirely unwanted mess of emotions; frustrated at the situation, angry at himself, afraid of the future, yearning for someone he knew returned his feelings, but still frozen in place. And there Uvo was, completely unbothered and seemingly oblivious to his plight. “Why of all people, you...” he giggled to himself. </p><p>Uvo cocked an eyebrow, “What d’ya mean why me?” he questioned. The manipulator just shook his head as his fit of giggles subsided. “Hey, what d’ya mean?” Uvogin repeated louder. </p><p>	Shal was tired, not just physically this time. He was tired of fighting himself and he was tired of trying to approach this problem like a game of chess. He had feelings for Uvo and Uvo had feelings for him. There was nothing he could do about that now no matter how many mini tantrums he threw or how hard he tried to yank the warm emotions out of him as if they were pesky weeds breaking through cracks in the floor. Half of him was still screaming that he should keep his mouth shut and make some distance, reevaluate, and figure out the best course of action. It was probably the smart thing to do, but at that moment, he didn’t care anymore. </p><p>	He stopped thinking and the words slipped out of his mouth, “I heard you and Nobu.” Uvogin looked at him quizically for a moment before his eyes widened slightly and it clicked. </p><p>	“You mean when I was… after the fight?” Uvo questioned. Shalnark nodded with his eyes closed. “But.. you were asleep.” </p><p>	“I wasn’t,” he said simply. </p><p>	“Oh, fuck,” Uvo cursed, sounding caught off guard for once, “Look, I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable, don’t worry about it. Nothing ha-”</p><p>	“Shut up,” Shalnark cut him off. Even though the blond’s voice was softer than his, he stopped mid-word and looked at Shal expectantly. “You talk too much,” he laughed sleepily, leaning away from the armrest and slowly walking his hands across the faded couch cushions until he was close enough to lower his head onto Uvo’s thigh. His blond hair fanned over the fabric of Uvo’s sleep shorts as he settled into the angular groove between the enhancer’s hip and his leg. Uvogin held completely still, hands hovering above his lap.</p><p>	“Are you... “ Uvo trailed off, too many questions in his head to formulate a single one. </p><p>	“Shh,” the manipulator shushed him, “Sleep now, problems later.” He wrapped an arm over the top of Uvo’s thigh and pulled him closer. “OK?” he asked after a moment, eyes already closed. </p><p>	The enhancer took a breath and finally relaxed below him, tension leaving his body as a sigh. “Yeah, OK,” he replied as he lowered a hand onto Shalnark’s shoulder. </p><p>	That night, he fell asleep to the feeling of Uvo’s thumb brushing over his skin idly and the sound of steady breathing behind his head.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ah yes, confirm that someone has feelings for you, then fall asleep on them without talking about it. A+</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Cat's Ear</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>	“... did you…” a baritone voice was the first thing Shalnark heard as he blinked his eyes open languidly. The morning sun filtering in through the uncovered east-facing windows lit up the wall in front of him with a warm glow. He stayed still for a moment, keeping his breathing slow and controlled. </p><p>	“...-ve horrible timing,” Nobunaga’s voice sounded faintly behind him. He could feel Uvogin’s stomach moving against the back of his head as the enhancer shifted subtly against the couch cushions. “But I have to ask, what’d he say?” </p><p>	“I’m not sure actually,” Uvo’s voice rumbled above him, low and husky in a way that meant he’d probably just woken up. The manipulator smiled into Uvo’s thigh. Clearly, he hadn’t learned his lesson about talking about people while he <em>thought </em>they were asleep. </p><p>	Nobunaga scoffed, “How are you not sure? He said <em>something</em> didn’t he?”</p><p>	He nearly jumped when Uvo’s hand brushed his head, nonchalantly twirling a strand of blond hair between his fingers. “He mostly just fell asleep,” Uvogin replied.</p><p>	“He said he knew you had feelings for him and then immediately fell asleep?” Nobu clarified with an unmistakable tone of disbelief. </p><p>	Shalnark decided he was bored of listening to the two enhancers and cut in. “Mmm,” he hummed, trying to clear the dryness from his throat. “You guys don’t learn.”</p><p>	The enhancer’s hand jumped away from his head as Nobunaga swore. He turned his head up to look at the Uvo but stopped as a hot twinge of pain radiated down his neck causing him to wince sharply through his teeth. </p><p>	“You OK?” Uvo asked quickly, hands hovering above the blond as he stilled his head in the enhancer’s lap. </p><p>	“Mmhmm,” he hummed affirmatively, “Still sore.” Moving around so much yesterday had clearly been a mistake. While the nauseousness hadn’t reared its head yet, his muscles ached just as painfully as they had yesterday, if not worse. He kept his cheek pressed against Uvo’s thigh the way it had been when he’d woken up and took a few steady breaths. </p><p>	The enhancer’s body was uncomfortably tense beneath his head, muscles tight with apprehension. “Uh,” Uvo cleared his throat, “Do you need anything?” </p><p>	“Painkillers,” he replied. Uvo was visibly nervous, but despite the inconclusive ending to their previous conversation, Shalnark felt more relaxed than he had since they arrived in the city. It was probably a misplaced sense of comfort, he knew that, but at that moment, he just enjoyed the feeling of Uvo’s hand settling back on his arm. </p><p>Nobu’s footsteps retreated from the couch as he took Shal’s request as an excuse to avoid the impending conversation. “I’ll find Machi or get some or… something,” he rambled as he disappeared down the hallway. </p><p>Shalnark lifted his hand slowly as the enhancer sat uncharacteristically mute beneath him and set his palm on the rigid part of Uvo’s quad. “You’re tense,” he complained,” It’s uncomfortable.” </p><p>	“Oh, <em>I’m sorry</em>,” Uvogin replied with a heavily sarcastic tone, “It’s not like I’m trying to figure out what the hell is going on or anything.” </p><p>	“What do you <em>think</em> is going on?” Shal questioned, turning up towards Uvogin so he could look straight up at the enhancer’s face, or rather the bottom of his chin. “Do you think I would do this if I were upset with you?”</p><p>	Uvo leaned back into the couch cushions as far as he could and glanced at the blond’s face before looking at something off to the side. “Probably not,” he admitted, “But you’re not exactly the most straightforward person, you know?”</p><p>	Shal giggled, laying a hand comfortably across his stomach. “Yeah, compared to you. No one’s as direct as you.” he teased lightly. </p><p>	“I guess that’s true,” Uvo laughed as his hand ghosted hesitantly over the strands of blond hair that fanned across his lap. “But still,” he added more earnestly, “I just wanna hear you say it.” </p><p>	Of all the thoughts about Uvo that had been relentlessly buzzing through his head during the past few days, Shalnark found that no succinct words came to mind. <em>Say it</em>, he thought, <em>say what?</em> Did he want to say this was love? The more he turned the word ‘love’ over in his head, the more uncertainty he felt bubbling in the back of his throat, dry and suffocating like choking on air. </p><p>	Uvo’s brow furrowed subtly as the blond took a shaky breath in his lap. “Hey, don’t overthink it,” he said, running his fingers through Shal’s hair in a way he hoped would be comforting. “Just say the first thing you thought.” </p><p>	“I like… being around you,” Shalnark started cautiously. He tried to focus on the feeling of Uvo’s nails lightly scratching his scalp instead of the voice in his head that returned to tell him this was a bad idea. “I like how I feel when I’m around you—safe.” </p><p>	“Safe…” the enhancer mulled the word over, “Because I’m so strong?” He concluded with a wide, self-satisfied grin. </p><p>	Shal lifted his hand closest to the couch and hit the enhancer wherever he could reach with a huff. Uvo just laughed as the manipulator punched him just above the elbow, hard for someone who was as out-of-commission as he was but by no means forceful enough for the other man to really feel it. “No, you brute,” he teased, “because you’re just… just you, I guess.”</p><p>“Oh,”  Uvo replied, mouth parted slightly with surprise. Even though he’d asked for it, he hadn’t been expecting something so honest. </p><p>“Your turn now,” Shal prompted with a cheeky grin, “What do you like about me, huh?” </p><p>“Well, uh,  you’re cute,” Uvo answered as Shalnark blinked up at him expectantly with a mischievous look in his eyes. The blond was eager to see if Uvo would stumble and admit something embarrassing now that Shal turned the question on him. “But not weak. More like strong-cute, or uh, cute-strong. I don’t think there’s a word for that,” he rambled, “You’re smart too. Oh, and you have a great ass.”</p><p>“Pff, how romantic,” Shal giggled. </p><p>“What? It’s true,” he replied with a chuckle. The early morning light had bloomed into the full brightness of day throughout the room, so the manipulator wasn’t surprised when he heard a third voice sound from across the room. </p><p>“You better not be doing anything gross in here,” Phinks called from the doorway.</p><p>“Nope. Super gross. You should probably just leave,” Shalnark called back as the other enhancer moved across the room behind them, presumably to scrounge some kind of breakfast from the pile of convenience store food in the corner. “Wait, could you grab me some food?” </p><p>“Get it yourself,” Phinks replied as he fished out a couple of shitty granola bars and some canned coffee. </p><p>“Aw, come on,” the manipulator whined, craning his head back to try and peer over the armrest, “I’m still too sore. If I stand up, I think my legs will fall off. Plea- oh,” he stopped as Phinks tossed him some kind of protein bar and a bottle of water from over the side of the couch. “Thank you!” he replied, a teasing lit still in his voice. </p><p>Uvo shifted a hand to his shoulder. “Do you wanna sit up?” Shalnark nodded as he shoved the food and water off of his stomach and braced a hand on the backrest. He winced hard as he pushed himself up, relying heavily on Uvo’s hand beneath his upper back. Burning pain seared over the long muscles between his spine and shoulder blades forcing his breath to lock up in his chest. He exhaled through his teeth as Uvo pulled him back a few inches so he could lean up against the enhancer’s side. </p><p>Phinks whistled from beside the couch. “Wow, you really fucked yourself up, didn’t you,” he commented around a mouthful of granola bar. </p><p>“I <em>hate</em> Auto-pilot,” Shal pouted for what felt like the hundredth time. He uncapped the fresh bottle of water and took a long sip, letting the water ease his dry throat. By the time he lowered it, he’d drained half the liquid inside. He stopped himself for a moment to check and see if sitting up would force the nauseousness to return. Fortunately, there was only a slight queasiness and some residual tension across his low abs. </p><p>“Maybe we should get something better to eat,” Uvo commented as he watched Shal devour half of the protein bar in two bites. </p><p>Phinks leaned up against the wall across from the couch as he cracked open a can of cheap black coffee. “Nobu texted. Said he’d pick something up while he’s out,” he told them. </p><p>“Huh, really?” Shal questioned, struggling to fish his phone out of his pant pocket. “Elch,” he made a disgusted noise as he saw how filthy his clothes were again. There was a glaring patch of dark, set-in blood splattered across the top of his thigh and a frayed hole on the opposite side, revealing a messy scab where he’d skinned his knee on some rocks. His shirt wasn’t in a much better state, speckled with mud and a few mysterious stains along the front that he feared were some other type of bodily fluid. </p><p>Uvo raised an eyebrow at him as he wrinkled his nose before grabbing his phone as he had initially intended. “What?” the enhancer asked.</p><p>“My clothes are gross,” he complained as he started scanning through his missed messages. There was the one from Nobunaga that Phinks had mentioned and a second one in the same chain asking if he had a preference between different painkillers. Besides that, the only other unread text was from Chrollo informing Shal that he’d left with some of the other spiders and would keep them updated. </p><p>“Want me to grab your bag so you can change?” Uvogin asked. </p><p>Shalnark shot him a side-eye over his shoulder. “Uvo, I’m pretty sure I can’t even stand up right now. Changing clothes isn’t really in the picture.” </p><p>“I could help you,” he offered with a casual shrug. The blond froze, completely caught off-guard. Did Uvo not realize how intimate his suggestion was? There’s no way he was <em>that</em> unaware, Shal thought. The enhancer processed his stunned silence and cut in quickly, “I don’t mean like <em>that</em>. Just- you’re clothes are really dirty and it’s probably not very comfortable and- I don’t know. It doesn’t have to be weird,” he rattled on trying to explain himself. </p><p>“<em>Wow,</em>” Phinks commented from his spot on the wall, “This is painful to watch.” He dropped a crumbled wrapper on the ground and turned to go down the hallway. “I’m gonna go rinse my eyes with bleach while you guys figure out whatever the fuck this is.” </p><p>Shal fiddled with the raw edges along the hole in his knee, feeling dried blood catch under his nails. His clothes were genuinely disgusting, and while he’d certainly dealt with worse, the prospect of changing into clean clothes that weren’t stiff with stains of who-knows-what was incredibly tempting. He sighed and figured the “fuck it” mindset had gotten him this far already, so why not? </p><p>“Alright,” he said, leaning forward, so his weight was off of the enhancer, “Come on. Let’s go.” </p><p>“Oh—OK, wait, now?” Uvo stammered as he stood from the couch, groaning as he stretched his cramped legs bodily. “Do you, uh— wanna go back to your room?” </p><p>“As opposed to here where anyone could walk in and see? Yeah, I do,” he replied as he titled his body further into the cushions to make up for Uvo’s absence behind him and alleviate the growing tension in his lower back. </p><p>Uvo nodded and kneeled to slid his hand under Shalnark’s legs, “Alright, then up you go,” he announced as he wrapped his second hand under the blond’s opposite shoulder and lifted him effortlessly into the air. </p><p>Shal let out an indignant squawk as he bounced in Uvo’s arms. “Uhg, bridal carry?” he groaned, “This is humiliating.” He started to lift his hands to wrap them around the enhancer’s shoulders, but the deep ache in his biceps prompted him to lower his hands into his lap. It wasn’t like Uvo needed the help anyway. </p><p>“What? No, it’s just the easiest way to carry you,” the enhancer explained as he walked around the couch.</p><p>“Easy for you to say. There’s not a single person on this planet who could bridal carry you,” Shalnark replied before giggling, “Well, maybe Franklin.” </p><p>Uvo lips pursed as he made a slightly disturbed face. “Uhg, no,” he responded, “That’s too weird to think about.” The door swung open hard enough to hit the wall as Uvo shoved it with one knee. He moved across the room in two strides and set Shalnark down on the mattress as carefully as he could, still misjudging and dropping him the last few centimeters. </p><p>“Hey!” the manipulator yelped as he came to an abrupt stop on the paper-thin mattress. Uvo swore and apologized sheepishly, sliding Shalnark his bag from the base of the bed so he could dig through it. There wasn’t much in the little duffle bag; toiletries, a phone charger, a small snack stash, and a few spare clothing articles. He pulled out another undershirt and a pair of black cotton pants that’d he’d intended to use as pajamas. It was only when he had the clothes in his hand that he began to consider the logistics. He highly doubted Uvogin had thought this far ahead either. Changing shirts would be simple enough, so he decided to start there. He fished his phone from his pocket and set it on the pillow to his left. After undoing the belt around his waist, he traced his fingers under the hem of his overshirt and worked it up over his stomach. He flinched when his elbows began to rise above his chest, pulling at the tight muscles in his shoulders uncomfortably. </p><p>Uvo moved forward and grabbed his arm with one hand. The other moved to his ribs to take the half-folded hem and push it up over his chest. It was an awkward ordeal; the changing aspect aside, Uvo’s large hands made it difficult for him to pull the fabric over Shalnark’s head delicately. In addition to that, the motion of lifting his arms above his head turned out to be damn near impossible. Every second his elbows rose higher than his shoulders, it sent violent shudders from the tips of his fingers all the way down through his torso.</p><p>The enhancer tossed Shal’s stained overshirt aside with a huff as soon as the shirt’s collar cleared his head. Shalnark could feel wayward strands of hair sticking up with the residual static as he dropped his arms back to his lap. He looked at Uvo and laughed tiredly, glancing down at his black undershirt, “Now we have to do it all over again.” </p><p>The second time was just as graceless as the first. While this time they had an idea of how to go about it, this layer clung much more closely to Shal’s skin than the first, giving the blond less wiggle room as the garment passed over his head. Then there was the psychological element; the fact that Shalnark was actually revealing skin instead of just another layer of sweaty clothing. He could feel the heat of Uvo’s hands against his stomach and the cool air that circulated throughout the room breezing against his sides. There was a dark patch of mottled bruising along his ribcage, but it hardly hurt at all compared to the burning in his arms as Uvo finally managed to wrestle the shirt off and cast it off to the floor next to his overshirt. </p><p>The enhancer was going out of his way to avoid eye contact, looking at his hands, to the side of Shal’s head, at the floor, anywhere besides directly at the blond’s face. Shalnark giggled at his surprising display of modesty, “You act like you don’t walk around without a shirt half the time, and that’s a <em>generous</em> half. Besides, it’s not like you’ve never seen me shirtless before.” </p><p>“I don’t know,” Uvo replied, finally looking back at Shalnark, “It just feels different. Feels more…” he trailed off.</p><p>Shal tipped his head back against the wall, “Intimate?” he supplied. </p><p>“Yeah, that’s it,” the enhancer agreed as he shifted back onto his heels. The concrete was rough and uneven against the balls of his feet, but he hardly felt it.</p><p>“Of course it feels more intimate with the context of everything,” Shal said, looking down as he ghosted his fingers across the purple bruise on his stomach. “Does that bother you?” </p><p>“No, no, that’s not it,” Uvogin reassured, “It’s… does that hurt?” he switched topics when he noticed the blond’s hand gently pressing the mark on his skin.</p><p>Shalnark pressed his ring finger deliberately along the hard line of each rib. “A little,” he replied, “Just making sure nothing’s cracked.” The bruise’s deep purple color and dappled pattern told him that it was deep, but he thought it was unlikely that they were broken. Still, better to check, he figured. </p><p>It hurt, and there was a dull ache when he inhaled, but there were no fractures large enough to feel. “Just bruised, I think,” he said, “I’ll have Machi check later to make sure. Now help me put on another shirt. It’s too cold in here.”</p><p>“OK, OK,” Uvo picked up the shirt from its spot on the mattress. It was a black sleeveless top with a short raised collar, identical to the one he’d just been wearing but cleaner, smelling subtly of flowery laundry detergent. “So, same thing in reverse?” </p><p>“In theory,” Shal nodded, slowly raising one arm with a grimace. The enhancer guided his hand through the sleeve and repeated the process on the other side. Sliding the garment over his head was a slightly clumsier process that involved a lot of ducking, pulling, and way too much hair ruffling, but once the collar cleared his chin, they efficiently worked the fabric down over his torso. The shirt was soft against his skin, downy material mercifully free of dirt and sweat. </p><p>Uvo’s hands backed away from his body as he dropped the hemline around his waist. “Done,” he announced with a grin. “That wasn’t so bad.”</p><p>“Easy for you to say,” the manipulator replied, “You’re not the invalid here. My arms feel like they’re about to fall off.” He looked down at his lap and regarded his sullied pants with a grimace. <em>No time for modesty now</em>, he thought, <em>just get it over with.</em></p><p>He threaded his thumbs under his waistband over his hip bone, careful to stay above his briefs, and pushed the material down as far as he could without moving. Unfortunately, his hands came to a stop about a few centimeters down his back as he was stopped by his own body weight. Scooting down the wall and tilting his hips up one side at a time only helped marginally. He stopped wiggling from side to side with a huff, waistband barely below his tailbone. </p><p>“Do you- I’m not sure how to help,” Uvo admitted, hands hovering a foot or so away from the blond, palms down. </p><p>Shalnark eased his back down the wall until he was lying flat on his back and slid his feet up across the sheets tensely until his heels were flat on the bed. Usually, it’d be easy enough to push his hips up and shove the offending garment down to his thighs, but even the slight pressure of his knees over his feet was sending tight, burning pain through his calves. He’d assumed that would be the case. If not, he would’ve tried to change out of his obnoxiously bloodstained pants the second he woke up. </p><p>Still, that didn’t stop him from trying. He huffed as his hips lifted a few centimeters off of the mattress before shuddering to a stop and dropping back down. Fortunately, Uvo figured out what he was trying to do and slipped his palm across the small of Shalnark’s back, lifting his lower torso with one hand. </p><p>As soon as the waistband cleared his ass, the muscles in his thighs gave out, and he was resting the entire weight of his lower half on the enhancer’s hand. Uvo barely reacted as his forearm tensed ever so slightly to accommodate the blond’s weight until Shalnark tapped his wrist. “Hey, put me down,” he requested. He fought down a swell of embarrassment as Uvo’s hand slid from the small of his back, fingers grazing the top of his briefs. His cheeks felt traitorously warm, and all he could do was hope that the flush on his face wasn’t dark enough for the enhancer to see. </p><p>He felt painfully exposed, lying flat on his back with his pants bunched around his thighs, so he shifted up to his elbows with a poorly concealed grimace and struggled to sit upright. Without missing a beat, Uvo slid his hands under Shal’s arms, around his rib cage, and pulled him back up against the wall. He muttered thank you under his breath and pulled a knee up slowly with one hand so he could work his pants the rest of the way down his legs. The frayed edges over his other knee caught on the rough scab beneath, and he sucked a sharp breath in through his teeth. The messy scrape looked worse in the low light. It covered the majority of his kneecap and went down through several layers of skin towards the bone. He could see little pieces of dirt and gravel spattered throughout the more raw sections where it hadn’t dried enough to scab over. </p><p>“Nng, gross,” he commented offhandedly as he freed his foot from the cuff of his pants and cast the sullied garment aside. “This needs to be cleaned. Could you get a wet towel or some tissue?”</p><p>Uvo stood up and shot across the room instantaneously with a sharp yes. The blond giggled at his haste and wondered if it was because he cared or just because he was eager to have something concrete to do in this unarguably awkward situation. The whole ordeal felt uncomfortable to him, although it hadn’t been as unbearable as he’d feared. But at that moment, he tried to consider what Uvo was feeling and thought to how quickly he’d jumped at the chance to leave the room. Was the enhancer starting to think differently of him after seeing him in such an helpless state? Uvo had said he liked that Shalnark was strong, but he didn’t feel very strong at the moment. Could it be possible Uvogin was reconsidering his feelings? <em>No</em>, he told himself, <em>Uvo wouldn’t hide something like that. He’d just say it.</em></p><p>The door creaked open with a shrill whine on its rusted hinges as Uvo reentered the room with a roll of toilet paper in one hand and Shal’s half-emptied water bottle from the night before in the other. The blond thanked him again as he kneeled down and passed the items into his hands. The water was cool against his skin as he poured it sparsely over a few folded square of tissue. Cleaning the scrape was a tentative process as he tried to find the right amount of pressure; hard enough to clear out all the gravel, but not hard enough to draw any more blood than was necessary. He avoided Uvo’s eyes and tried to appear deep in concentration as the enhancer watched him wordlessly, kneeling on one shin, finger tapping absentmindedly on the top of his knee. </p><p>Internally, he berated himself for questioning Uvo’s feelings, even if it was just for a moment. The enhancer cared for all his fellow spiders as comrades, even as brothers in arms, but his personality was far from doting. The way he was acting now was special, Shalnark realized, it meant something. </p><p>He pulled the red-stained toilet paper wad away from his knee and inspected the wound. Most of the visible dirt was gone, and the scab remained in rough, scattered patches across the open parts of the scrape. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough for now. He wiped the outer edges down once with a dry tissue and chucked the bloodied wad aside. </p><p>“OK,” he said, grabbing the fresh pair of pants from the mattress beside him. “The same thing in reverse.” He reached down with a stifled groan and worked his feet through the cottony pant legs one at a time. Once he’d slowly pulled the fabric up to his thighs, shifting lackadaisically back and forth from one leg to the other, he slid down to his back once again and prepared to swallow his pride for what would hopefully be the final time. Unlikely, but he could dream. </p><p>Uvo’s hand was under him in an instant, palm warm and rough against his lower back as the enhancer pushed his lower body up off of the mattress. This time, he allowed Uvogin to bear all of his weight from the start and tapped his wrist again when he’d finished pulling the waistband over his hips. </p><p>“Hah, finally,” he panted with a smile as he ran his hands over the soft, worn fabric, “Clothes that don’t have other people’s blood on them. I’ve missed this.” </p><p>“See, that wasn’t so bad!” Uvo replied, “Want to go back to the couch now or stay here?” </p><p>“Couch, please,” he requested. Despite the awkwardness of needing Uvo’s help to change, the feeling of comfortable, unsullied fabric against his skin was putting him in a better mood. He still felt worn out and disproportionately tired from someone who’d recently slept for thirty straight hours, but the hunger in his gut and his desire to feel at least a little productive was overwhelming the urge to sleep. </p><p>He didn’t complain this time as Uvo’s hands slipped under his knees and around his shoulders as the enhancer lifted him. It still felt embarrassing and honestly a little emasculating, but he wasn’t in the mood to argue about it. He’d have better luck debating a brick wall or one of the chunks of rubble outside than arguing with Uvo, typical enhancer. </p><p>Unfortunately, the fact that it was now about nine in the morning meant that most of the remaining spiders were now up and about, so the moment Uvo kicked the door open with his knee, they had an audience. Three heads turned to see Uvogin stride across the room, Shalnark between his arms looking slightly horrified. </p><p>He shook it off with a laugh that didn’t reach his eyes, “Good morning! Everyone waiting for Nobu to bring breakfast?”  </p><p>“Yes…” Feitan replied from the couch as he scooted further up against the armrest to make way for Uvo. “Feeling better?” </p><p>“Mmhmm! Just sore still,” he shot Fei a closed mouth smile as Uvogin set him on the unoccupied center seat. He allowed himself to slump back against the deflated cushions with a soft exhale. </p><p>“No more puke?” the transmuter asked, looking at Shal over the top of his collar as the blond reacted with a wide-eyed blink.</p><p>“Oh, you heard that?” he laughed sheepishly. The couch cushions shifted as Phinks reclined away from him on the other corner seat and continued scrolling through something on his phone. </p><p>Shalnark felt his phone buzz against his leg just a second before Phinks swore loudly beside him. “Fuck, we gotta go,” he announced, “Danchou just sent a message. We’ve been found out.” </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't know if any of you have had to change clothes when you were really, REALLY sore, but it's damn hard.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Dandelions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What do you mean <em>‘we’ve been found out’</em>?” Uvo trailed after Phinks as he vaulted from the worn paisley couch with another curse. </p><p>“Dunno, it’s just what danchou said,” he explained in an irritable tone, “Check your fucking phone.” If it weren’t for the tension in the room, Shalnark would’ve laughed. As if Uvo ever kept his phone on him, even convincing the enhancer to get one had been a nearly herculean task—one that he’d been in charge of no less. </p><p>Franklin spoke up from his spot on the floor. “What about Nobunaga?” he asked, glancing up from his book, looking relatively composed and unbothered. </p><p>“He has a phone. He’ll just have to meet us there,” the blond enhancer replied as he turned down the hallway to gather his things. Shal tapped a few buttons on his phone and opened the message that was causing such a fuss only to find that Phinks had already more or less relayed the entire thing. Chrollo might have been vague on purpose, but the manipulator suspected that he was just unaware of how cryptic a short message like that came across. He quickly typed up a text asking for clarification but doubted they’d get much.</p><p>“No,” Franklin countered, causing Phinks to stop in his tracks and shoot him a glare over his shoulder. The emitter set his book down but didn’t move to stand up.  “Nobunaga has the car.”</p><p>“Dammit,” Phinks swore under his breath as he disappeared through one of the doors in the hallway, closing it behind him with a resounding slam. The rusty hinges popped off the wall like thumbtacks in a corkboard, and the entire door came crashing to the floor. Shal giggled as the enhancer shouted something unintelligible and likely full of expletives.</p><p>The manipulator hummed and set his phone screen down on his chest, contemplating the idea of lying down across Phinks’ seat since his current position didn’t allow him to lean to either side. “When’s Nobu supposed to come back?” he asked Feitan.</p><p>“Twenty minutes,” the other man answered as he stood from the couch to trailed behind Phinks to their shared, now doorless room. Shal hummed in response as he relayed that information to Chrollo. He tipped his head back into the cushions with a sigh as he waited for a reply. <em>They’d been found out, huh? How annoying,</em> he thought.</p><p>His phone buzzed twice against his chest, and he turned to screen towards his face with one eyebrow cocked. He hadn’t expected a quick response. Two short messages from danchou flashed on his screen; “<em>dont wait,”</em> the first read, “<em>leave now meet him on the way,” </em>said the second. </p><p>“Uh…” he started, somewhat stunned but Chrollo’s uncharacteristic urgency. Franklin and Uvo turned to face him expectantly. “Danchou says we need to leave now.” </p><p>“What? Like right now?” Uvo questioned as he leaned over the back of the couch to peer at Shal’s phone. “What about Nobu?” </p><p>“We’ll walk then, or maybe just jack another car,” Franklin replied with a faint shrug. “Go get your stuff.” Shal looked up from his phone screen at Uvogin with a poorly concealed pout. This whole heist had just been one disaster after another, and he was tired of it. He was used to being the one that found sensitive information on their adversaries, not the one being caught with their pants down, quite literally, if he counted earlier. </p><p>“<em>Uvoo,</em>” he whined up at the enhancer with a faint smile on his lips, “Could you get my stuff?” </p><p>Uvogin, who was more than happy to oblige, patted his shoulder affectionately and moved across the room in a few long strides before vanishing through the small doorway to Shalnark’s temporary living quarters. The blond smiled at the space he’d been before turning back to his phone to make sure Nobu knew what was going on. He looked up when he felt Franklin’s eyes on him as the other man closed his book gently and stood from the floor.</p><p>“What are you trying to do? Stare a hole in my head?” Shalnark teased as he glanced up from his half typed message. </p><p>“Are you sure you know what you’re doing with… that?” the emitter questioned vaguely, but Shal understood the implications. </p><p>The manipulator just laughed. “Oh, don’t worry about it,” he dismissed the other man’s concern and resumed tapping away at the keyboard on his phone. Franklin’s heavy footsteps retreated down the hall as Shal mulled over his words. He knew the emitter was just trying to look out for the spiders, and he had considered what implications a romance within the troupe might have. Uvo’s crush on him hadn’t exactly been a secret either, to anyone who had a radar on that sort of thing, which did exclude some of the spiders. The troupe’s whole dynamic relied on the fact that each of them played an essential but ultimately replaceable part of a whole. Would a romance compromise that? He honestly wasn’t sure.</p><p>Some ancient civilizations believed that relations among their ranks, specifically homosexual relations, contributed to both morale and combat effectiveness. So, in the sake of fairness, he had to consider the opposite as well; maybe it would make them stronger. The thought made him giggle. If the world thought they were strong now, wait until they incorporated the raw, unadulterated power of homosexuality. He snickered aloud again; maybe the burnout was making him giddy. </p><p>His phone chimed as Nobunaga texted back a location somewhere between where he was now and the house the spiders were cooped up in so they could regroup as quickly as possible. If he remembered the area correctly, it was about a ten-minute walk directly up the road. A door slammed shut behind him as Uvogin reappeared, worn purple duffle bag in hand.</p><p>“Here you go,” he said, setting the bag next to Shalnark on the couch with a soft thump, “I just sorta shoved everything in. Hope that’s OK.”</p><p>“Mmhmm,” the blond replied with a grin as the enhancer left to grab his things, “Thank you!” He thought about dragging the bag onto his lap and rearranging the contents but decided to wait as Feitan reentered the main hall. “Did you get danchou’s last message?” he asked.</p><p>The transmuter nodded behind his cowl and shouldered his day bag further up his shoulder as he took a seat next to Shal on the couch. He wasn’t surprised Fei had finished before Phinks; the enhancer insisted on folding his clothes, a quirk that seemed comically misplaced in Shalnark’s opinion. He cared a little too much for someone that just wore tank tops and tracksuits. </p><p>As they sat in comfortable silence, movement in the corner of his eye caught Shal’s attention, and he turned his gaze away from the other man with an inquisitive expression. There was something small and light floating across the late morning sunbeams, too big to be a speck of dust. He squinted at it as the little object caught a light breeze and blew further into the room. It had a rounded head made up of several nearly translucent strands and darker stock below. A few more glided lackadaisically through the air by the time Fei noticed and looked up.</p><p>“Dandelions?” the transmuter asked, voice muffled behind his collar. He turned to look towards the door over the back of the couch.</p><p>“Yeah, looks like dandelion seeds,” Shal agreed, “But… how’d they get so far in the room?” </p><p>“Uh, there’s many,” Fei informed him, sounding slightly bemused. </p><p>The manipulator started to glance over his shoulder, wincing as the movement stretched the stiff muscles in the side of his neck. “How many?” he asked as he caught sight of a few more in his peripheral vision. </p><p>“Very,” the transmuter answered. “Is problem?” </p><p>Shalnark hummed skeptically as a few more fluffy seedheads breezed across the room. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. If their whole operation up until this point hadn’t been a series of roadblocks one after the other, he likely would’ve dismissed it. It’s not as if Shalnark was intimately familiar with the flora of this particular area; maybe this was normal for the time of year. It was summer, after all. But the setbacks they’d already faced combined with danchou’s urgent message had him on high alert, as alert as he could manage anyway. </p><p>His aura responded sluggishly like molasses running across his skin instead of the lightning-fast reaction he was accustomed to. Still, after a strained breath, the familiar heat of gyo lit up his vision. Just as he had feared, even though neither of them had been able to sense it, each tiny seedhead was ablaze with a concentrated sphere of nen centered just above the stock, floating across the room like embers from a hot grill. </p><p>“Fei, it’s nen-” his warning was cut off as the first flower he’d spotted dipped down to the floor and burst like a firecracker as soon as it made contact with the rough concrete. The thin filaments around the head splinted outward as the seedhead popped, turning to needlelike close-range shrapnel. </p><p>Like his gyo, pulling his aura tight against his body to form ten had turned from a breakneck reaction to a conscious motion that lagged just a half-second behind. He swore as several of the nen infused fibers shot through the thin fabric over his legs into the front of his shins. Judging by the short exclamation shouted next to him, Feitan hadn’t been able to protect himself quickly enough to come away unscathed either, even with his nearly impossible reaction time. </p><p>Phinks, who had just begun to exit his room, rushed into the main hall. Before he could step into the scattered cloud of dandelions, Fei stood from the couch and faced him. “Stop,” the transmuter commanded, ten fully formed over his body. </p><p>“Why? What the fuck is this?” the enhancer questioned but obliged regardless. Shal forced himself to turn around despite the soreness and saw that there were forty or so, maybe fifty tiny seedheads that he could see floating about the center of the room in a loose grouping. </p><p>“They’re infused with nen, probably an emitter’s ability,” he explained, “Just don’t touch them.” A second flower parted from the bunch and grazed the far wall. Predictably, it burst with a sharp pop, sending hardened whisps a few feet out in all directions. One or two traveled far enough across the room to deflect harmlessly off of Feitan’s aura as Shalnark ducked behind the couch back. Even when he directed all of his energy towards his ten, it flickered on and off in unpredictable patterns like an aged fluorescent light. If one exploded too close, it would be better protection than nothing, but not by much.</p><p>Aura flared up around Phinks’ eyes as the enhancer confirmed what they had told them. “Just one fuckin’ thing after another…” he complained under his breath before he too shielded himself. Before his gyo faded out, his eyes glanced over the manipulator, and he was able to clearly see the way his ten was fluttering unstably over his skin. “Shal, what’s going on? If you don’t stop fucking around, you’re gonna get popped by a goddamn flower of all things.” </p><p>“You think I’m doing this on purpose?” he laughed, a slight cynical twinge to his voice. Two more dandelions burst against the floor, stabbing into the back of the couch. He could still feel the grouping of filaments that had already sunk in his skin burning with foreign nen, like a constant stream of lemon juice in a cut. </p><p>Franklin and Uvogin appeared behind Phinks, large forms stuck in the pileup at the mouth of the hallway as they tried to figure out what was going on. Luckily, it seemed that they overheard most of the vital information. </p><p>“OK, so we just gotta find whoever’s doing this, right?” Uvo concluded, “Easy! We can get that done and still be on time to meet up with Nobu.” </p><p>“No,” Feitan countered as he leaned forward to avoid one of the seedheads floating languidly through the air. “Too many go off, might hurt Shal.” </p><p>“If we wait too long, there won’t be much of a decision to make,” Shalnark cut in. Being in the ‘damsel in distress’ role was starting to grate on his nerves, but there was nothing he could do about it at that moment. “Phinks and Franklin can go out the back and look for the emitter. The rest of us will figure out how to get out without turning me into a pin cushion.” </p><p>The majority of the dandelions were circulating the center of the room between the door and the couch. Seeing them like that, he berated himself for not noticing something was off earlier. The pattern they moved in mimicked a light breeze, but there wasn’t that much active air movement in the room. It would’ve been easy enough for him to duck behind the couch while Fei and Uvo cleared the room with their hardened auras as protection, but too many of them had drifted to the front of the room where there was no suitable barrier he could utilize. </p><p>Franklin nodded once, seeming satisfied with Shal’s suggestion, and disappeared down the hallway. Phinks, on the other hand, paused for a moment, looking like he wanted to argue as he glanced between Feitan and Shalnark. “Fuck, fine,” he conceded, whipping around to shoulder past Uvogin. </p><p>A small cluster of nen flowers popped against the concrete, sputtering like firecrackers as they burst. Simultaneously, a stray seedhead brushed the armrest to Feitan’s side and detonated with a biting crack. The majority of the filaments glanced innocuously off of the transmuter’s ten, but with a stature of just over five feet and about a hundred pounds, two of the fibers shot by him and buried themselves in Shalnark’s forearm. He felt his ten solidify a second after they made impact and laughed over a wince; of course his timing would be as abysmal as possible. He honestly shouldn’t have expected anything else.</p><p>His original plan had been to save up energy and channel his aura sparingly, only precisely when he needed it. However, trying to time the small explosions by tracking the seedheads through the air was already revealing itself to be minimally successful. Because the breeze they floated on was influenced by unpredictable foreign nen instead of nature, they were prone to change directions inexplicably. The sudden shifts made it impossible for him to deduce exactly what specks were about to strike a surface and prepare accordingly. Of course, that wasn’t a problem for Uvo or Fei, who were more than able to maintain a state of protection. That’d usually be the case for him as well, but since Auto-pilot mode expelled a nearly inhuman amount of energy at a single time, his tank was a little empty, to put it lightly.</p><p>Feitan took a quick survey of the dandelions closest to them before he leaned over Shalnark and grabbed the back of the couch in one hand. “I flip it over. Lay down. Stay underneath,” he explained in an even voice. </p><p>“Ah, OK, flip <em>how</em>?” he questioned with a sheepish grin as he shifted his legs up onto the couch as quickly as his still exhausted body would allow. When he reached a relatively vertical position, the transmuter firmly pressed the flat of his other hand against Shal’s collarbone.</p><p>“Sorry,” was all Fei offered as a reply before he pulled the couch back towards his chest and pressed it to the floor in a single motion. The transmuter’s hand served to pin him to the couch for the first part of the flip, but after the couch reached a certain degree, the movement turned into a short freefall. He yelped as his perspective turned 180 degrees, and the concrete floor rushed up to meet him. He managed to summon a little bit of ten to soften the blow as his forearms met the ground, reflexively shielding his face. The two filaments in his arm, as well as the ones that had pierced the front of his legs, stung as they pressed against the ground, and he wasn’t sure what hurt worse; the tiny needles in his skin or the intense burning that radiated through his muscles with a renewed vigor. </p><p>A booming chorus of firecrackers crackling above his head forced him to duck even closer to the floor to stifle the noise. He could almost imagine Uvogin flailing through the room, trying to make contact with as many of the popping flowers as possible. He probably looked like an octopus being tazed, a four hundred pound eight foot six octopus. The thought made him laugh until the long muscles in his back twitched and spasmed, forcing his fit of giggles down to small huffs. </p><p>After about thirty seconds, the sharp popping sounds stopped. He glanced up at the small triangle of light that shone between the back cushion’s highest point and the armrest until the hefty piece of furniture shifted above him. Uvogin pulled the couch back to its feet like it was dollhouse furniture, the force so much that it tottered on its back legs before tipping back to the ground in the opposite direction with a thump. </p><p>“Hey, you alright?” the enhancer asked as Feitan appeared behind him to gather his bag off of the ground. </p><p>“Mmm,” he hummed in a way that he hoped sounded like an affirmative. “That was really mean Fei,” he added with a pout. </p><p>The transmuter pulled his worn bag over one shoulder with a shrug. “Better than pincushion,” he replied, plucking Shal’s duffle from the floor as well. “Really, you OK?”</p><p>“‘M fine. We should jus’ get going.” he murmured as he took a shaky breath to summon his strength and pushed up to his elbows, straining until he could slot one knee up against his side. Every time his shin shifted against the concrete, he could feel the tiny nen infused fibers moving under his skin. It was a decisively unpleasant feeling, but honestly, not very high on his pain scale. The faintly acidic burning sensation that radiated from each tiny filament was a little worse, and it hadn’t faded at all since the initial time of contact, something to worry about later, he figured. </p><p>“Hey, Uvo,” he said, as he got both shins underneath his body. “Piggyback?” he asked, giggling at how ridiculous the question felt in his mouth. The boldfaced vulnerability of his situation still felt demeaning, but making jokes about it was the closest thing to control he would get. </p><p>“Huh? Oh! Yeah, of course,” Uvo answered, sounding momentarily caught off guard. Shalnark chucked under his breath. It had been a pretty predictable question; he just doubted Uvogin thought too far ahead in his conversations.</p><p>Feitan hummed as the enhancer crouched in front of him and slid his hands below the blond’s upper thighs. As they stood, the transmuter made eye contact with Shal over the larger man’s shoulder; his eyes were pitched up into crescents, a familiar taunting expression.</p><p>“Gay boy,” Fei teased, chuckling under his cowl as a light flush appeared across the manipulator’s face. </p><p>Uvogin just laughed, not one to be put off by friendly jabs, and dropped one hand to grab the last two remaining bags from the floor, Nobunaga’s backpack, which he’d taken the liberty of packing, and his battered canvas carryall. “Hey Fei, can you get these ones too?” he asked as Shal’s unsupported leg slipped down his back despite the blond’s best efforts, “Got no hands.” </p><p>“Hm, fine. Just ‘til outside,” the transmuter relented, grabbing the mostly empty bags, “Then Phinks problem.” </p><p>Shalnark felt a strong wave of déjà vu as he settled his hands over the enhancer’s shoulders, leaning his head against Uvo’s unruly mane of hair. As they walked towards the main door and he turned his head against Uvo’s neck, he found himself noting that the enhancer had used a different shampoo, instead of a woodsy chemical odor, his hair smelt strongly of peppermint, burnt matches, and old spice. The realization was so cavity-inducingly domestic that it made his expression screw up at that thought of it. Still, he took a deep breath as he relaxed into the other man’s grip, but as Franklin’s voice greeted them, he snapped his eyes open and schooled his expression back to something smiley and nondescript. </p><p>“The nen user probably turned tail,” Franklin explained as he met them on the cracked driveway. “We couldn’t find anyone around the house.” </p><p>“Coward,” Phinks complained, kicking a loose stone towards the house with enough strength to crack the siding. </p><p>Shalnark hummed pensively over Uvo’s shoulder. He’d been half expecting their mystery assailant to air on the non-confrontational side. Their hatsu would be minimally effective in close combat, and the fact that neither he nor Feitan had been able to sense nen in the dandelions implied that they were skilled in some form of zetsu. If this nen user was hired by or had been in contact with the group that had ambushed them two days prior, it made sense that they would be cautious. </p><p>“Well then, let’s go meet Nobu,” Shal directed with a grin, ignoring Franklin’s passing gaze, “We don’t want to keep him waiting.” </p><p>“Right!” Uvogin agreed readily, “If I’m the late one for once, I’ll never hear the end of it.” Somewhere to the enhancer’s other side, blocked from Shal’s view by Uvo’s voluminous bush of hair, Phinks let out a disgruntled noise as Feitan tossed three of the four bags he was carrying at the other man’s chest.</p><p>“Hey! What the hell,” Phinks complained as he resituated the bags in his arms. They were all nearly empty, deflated canvas just holding the bare necessities. None of the spiders relied too heavily on creature comforts. “I’m not a pack mule, you know?” </p><p>Feitan walked ahead of the other enhancer on the sidewalk as they began to make their way up the road. “Look like one to me,” he teased. </p><p>“If anyone’s a pack mule right now, it’s Uvo,” Phinks countered, “What’ve you got there? Eighty kilos of dead weight?” </p><p><em>“Eighty?</em>” Shal chuckled in a mock offended tone, “Try seventy.”</p><p>“Bah! Seventy, eighty, a hundred and eighty, it’s all nothing to me,” Uvo guffawed, bouncing the blond on his back up and down a few times to prove his point, “Can hardly even feel you!” He giggled at the weightless feeling as his arms left the enhancer’s shoulders but concealed a flinch as his chest came down on Uvogin’s upper back. </p><p>“Maybe <em>you</em> can’t, but <em>I</em> can,” he laughed to stifle his reflex to wince and tugged on the other man’s hair in complaint. Uvo apologized behind a wide grin as a familiar car pulled around the corner a few blocks down the street. </p><p>The rickety truck bumped and rattled down the disserviced road as Nobunaga zipped past the few remaining buildings and cut across the indistinguishable center lane. He came to a quick stop next to the sidewalk and rolled down his window, revealing an expression that was somewhere between frantic and ticked off. </p><p>	“If I knew you’d be this long, we could’ve just met at the house,” Nobu gripped, resting his elbow through the open window, “Would’ve saved us some planning.” </p><p>	“Oh, <em>sorry,” </em>Phinks shot back sarcastically as he walked around the front of the truck. “How were we supposed to know someone was gonna attack us with killer fuckin’ flowers.” The hinges on the door squealed as he yanked it open and started to get in before realizing he still had to wrestle four sets of layered duffle bag straps off his shoulders. </p><p>	“What?” Nobu asked incredulously as the blond enhancer hotheadedly chucked the bags between the two front seats. They landed in a deflated pile on the center back seat. Fei shoved one back onto the stack when it started to sag towards the side he was climbing in on and added his own to the small mountain of bags once he’d sat down.</p><p>	The truck shifted onto its back wheels with a creak as Franklin climbed over the tailgate and settled against one corner of the cab. He promptly fished the book he’d been in the middle of out of his bag and flipped open to a bookmarked page.</p><p>	“Exploding flowers,” Feitan offered as an explanation to Nobunaga’s question, “Very sharp… almost make Shal pincushion.” </p><p>	Uvogin kneeled with his back facing the car and dropped the manipulator on the available backseat. The upholstery was coarse against his arms as he scooted slowly onto the bench seat as the enhancer’s warm hands left his legs. He slumped across the pile of duffle bags to his left with a huff, deciding not to bother with the seatbelt.</p><p>	Their seats jostled and tilted a few degrees back again as Uvo leaped into the truck bed. When the vehicle’s weight stopped locomoting, Nobu pulled away from the curb and did a sharp three-point turn before the engine whined and they took off down the road. </p><p>“Anyone want to explain in a way that makes sense?” he questioned irritably, but the worried twinge in his brow gave away his honest concern.</p><p>“Danchou will wanna hear it too,” Phinks replied as he settled back into the seat, foot brushing a few plastic grocery bags on the ground loudly. “For now, just drive.” </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry I switch between imperial and metric. What can I say? Sometimes imperial sounds nicer and sometimes metric sounds nicer.<br/>Also, the fact about an ancient civilization believing that homosexual soldiers made them stronger is absolutely true; it's ancient Greece if you didn't know. Plato even wrote about it. Just an ancient gay fun fact for you.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Thorns</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If needles and needle-related things really give you the heebie-jeebies,  tread lightly towards the second half especially. Also, side note, I love Machi, and I'm so happy I finally worked in dialogue with her.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Phinks did end up explaining to Nobunaga what had happened as they pulled out of the ruined neighborhood onto the only slightly more populated highway. Shalnark tuned out their conversation as he found himself zoning out, head resting on their bags, looking absentmindedly past the windshield. His head felt fuzzy, but simultaneously, thoughts were floating around his mind like disturbed sediment at the bottom of a lake. He mulled over the typical things first; who specifically was targeting them, what did they know, what their next steps should be, and so forth. But he found his ordinarily well controlled train of thought veering off track. Thoughts about foreign nen turned into the memory of his weight resting in Uvogin’s hands. Recollections from their first ambush turned to the smell of peppermint and burnt matches. Tepidly formed plans turned into the image of little purple flowers growing up through the rubble of Meteor City. </p><p>	He blinked open half-lidded eyes when a hand shook his shoulder. Feitan looked down at him as he craned his head over the makeshift pillow with a low hum. The transmuter shook a small bottle of pills a few times over his face. “Painkiller,” he explained, “You want?” </p><p>	“Oh, yes please,” he replied, forcing his tone to be chipper. Shifting up on his elbow, he grabbed the bottle from Fei and turned the label over in his hands. The minimalistic packaging informed him that it was generic ibuprofen separated into tiny pills, likely recommending a practically microscopic dose. He tapped out a small handful into his palm and threw them back dry, wincing as he felt them catch in his throat before sliding down. </p><p>	At some point, Feitan must’ve asked Phinks to pass him these from the front seat. He was sure that’s where they’d been since he’d heard the rustling of plastic grocery bags from Phinks’ feet. The fact that he hadn’t noticed that exchange was somewhat disconcerting to him. Had he really spaced out that much? </p><p>	“Hey, Nobu. How far is it to danchou’s hotel?” he asked, trying to spot a familiar landmark through the windshield. All he could make out was the highway lightly speckled with traffic and nondescript office buildings. </p><p>	“I<em> just</em> told Phinks,” Nobunaga groaned, sounding more tired than genuinely upset, “Another fifty minutes at least.”</p><p>	Shalnark hummed and nodded slightly, hoping the enhancer would see it in the rearview mirror. The dandelion filaments in his arm and legs had continued to noticeably sting, a feeling like vinegar in a cut. He placed his forearm on one of the bags below his head and lackadaisically inspected the two nearly translucent, hair-like needles. While they’d been floating through the air, they’d appeared downy soft, but after they’d discharged, they’d turned pin-straight and rigid. He tapped the pad of his index finger gently over the exposed end and found it was razor-sharp. </p><p>	“Hurts?” Feitan asked when he noticed the blond curiously inspecting the fibers. “Mine sting… just a little.” </p><p>	“Mine too,” he replied, grabbing one of the filaments as close to the base as possible and tugging lightly. It stuck firmly in his skin. “Hmm, these might be barbed. That’s common for flowers in the dandelion family. Although, usually, they’d be too small to notice. We don’t know how similar to real dandelions these are though since it’s a nen ability.” </p><p>	“How many in your legs?” the transmuter said as he motioned down towards the floor. Shalnark glanced down towards his shins and flexed his feet casually, noting that he was still barefoot with a hum. </p><p>	“I’m not sure. Ten maybe?” he answered, “What about you?” </p><p>	Feitan replied without checking, “Six.” Shal pushed one of the needles in his arm languidly, feeling it faintly pull against his skin with a twinge of pain. He considered pulling it out but decided against it in case any barbs broke off in his skin. That would be more than a little troublesome to remove.</p><p>	Phinks turned to face them, eavesdropping on their conversation for lack of anything better to do since Nobunaga had slapped his hand away from the radio again. “So what, you guys just have a bunch of little needles stuck in you?” he commented.</p><p>	“Sting too,” Fei added, “Like lemon juice… maybe poison. Too early to tell.” Shalnark gave a short contemplative nod against one of the rough duffle bags below his cheek. That had already occurred to him, but, like Feitan had said, it was too early to know anything for certain. Although, the fact that they’d gone a good twenty minutes without experiencing any adverse effects besides stinging pain ruled out quite a few common toxins.</p><p>	“Whoa, I’m sorry, fucking <em>poison</em>?” Phinks repeated incredulously. Clearly, the same thought hadn’t occurred to him. </p><p>	“Don’t worry about it too much!” Shalnark reassured him, “If it were any of common lethal toxins, we’d be dead already, or showing symptoms at the very least. Fei’s just being dramatic.” he added in a teasing tone. </p><p>	“Well, neither of you better drop dead back there,” Nobunaga chimed in, “I damn well didn’t hurry all the way back to pick you up so that you could keel over in the car.”</p><p>	Shal giggled, “Wow, imagine explaining that to danchou.” </p><p>	“Wouldn’t have to,” Fei said, a hint of a grin on his face, “We’d be dead.” </p><p>	“Morbid fuckers,” Phinks muttered as he turned back around in his seat. Nobunaga had pulled off the main road in favor of less populated side streets a few miles back. Skirting the city was turning what could’ve been a thirty-minute drive into an hour-long journey, but two gargantuan men riding in the back of a stolen pickup truck wasn’t exactly the best in terms of blending in. Trading speed for subtly was the smart choice, but it didn’t make the ride any less monotonous. </p><p>	Shalnark pulled his phone from his pant pocket, still leaning over the center seat. A few unread messages were flashing on his screen; one from Nobunaga before the enhancer had picked them up, which he dismissed, one from Chrollo in a group message, and one from Pakunoda. The second two were short requests for status updates, one in danchou’s vague messaging style and the other in Paku’s overly formal script. He responded to both with their eta and made sure to throw in a few extra cutesy emoticons for good measure. </p><p>	His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten anything other than a shitty granola bar for about two days. The adrenaline that had stifled his hunger seemed to have sufficiently worn off, leaving his stomach so empty it almost made him feel sick. </p><p>	“Ph<em>iinks</em>,” he said, whining behind a grin, “Could you pass me some food?” </p><p>	“Again? <em>Fine</em>,” the enhancer relented, leaning forward and digging through one of the bags with the loud sound of rustling plastic. “No idea what’s in here, so you get whatever I give you.” Without looking, he thrust a nondescript paper-wrapped sandwich back between the seats with one hand, followed by a bottle of mixed fruit juice that likely had an unreasonable amount of sugar in it. </p><p>	“Me too,” Feitan chimed in, prompting an exaggerated grumble from Phinks. The enhancer chucked a couple of items in Fei’s general direction, blindly relying on the fact he’d be able to catch them more manageably than Shal would’ve been able to.</p><p>	The manipulator broke the perforated seal on the juice and took a huge sip, reveling in the taste of the overly sweet liquid. “Too bad we can’t pass anything back to Uvo and Franklin,” he mused as he began unwrapping his sandwich, “I bet they’re hungry too.” </p><p>	“Yeah, I think they’ll be OK for, what, forty more minutes? Yeah, forty.” Nobunaga replied, glancing between the road and the digital clock embedded in the dashboard. </p><p>	Despite the gnawing hunger in his gut, Shalnark picked at his food slowly, hoping it would distract him from both wandering thoughts and the fatigue that had already begun to creep over him. It turned out to be only marginally effective. He found that there were only so many ways he could engagingly contemplate the taste of convenience store ham before his mind took the reins and went elsewhere. His thoughts were mostly similar to the ideas he’d been circling earlier; ambush to Uvo, nen needles to Meteor city, new plans to the smell of old spice and peppermint. </p><p>	His efforts against fighting off the drowsiness were failing as well. The smooth rhythm of highway rolling under the wheels combined with the satisfaction of an increasingly full stomach was lulling him against his will into a comfortable stupor. He pulled his phone out again and forced his eyes to focus on the screen as he pulled up some mindless platformer game with the volume on low, but it wasn’t holding his attention. In a final attempt to keep himself awake, he strained his arms under his head, feeling the movement radiate through his muscles, and pushed himself upright in his seat. Fei glanced up from his food as Shal disturbed the pile of duffle bags, causing one to spill into the transmuter’s lap.</p><p>	Feitan shot him a look over the top of his cowl but said nothing. From this angle, he could just barely twist his head to the side and see the outline of Franklin and Uvogin in the truck bed, both facing away from him. Uvo said he honestly didn’t mind riding in the back, but Shalnark couldn’t understand how for the life of him. He’d done it in the past and found everything about it unpleasant once the car surpassed 30 miles an hour; deafening wind, hard metal, and nothing to hold onto. Maybe the threat of being jolted out was lower when you weighed about four hundred pounds. </p><p>	His hail Mary against the desire to nap crumbled as he gradually settled his weight against the door, head resting against the window despite the way it rattled against his skull. He allowed himself to close his eyes and told himself it would just be for a moment, despite knowing somewhere deep down that wouldn’t be true. The sound of soft instrumental music crackling through the speaker behind his head faded out, and the next thing he knew, his body was falling out from beneath him as the door disappeared. </p><p>	He bolted up, sending a dull ache through his body, and scrambled for purchase instinctually. His hand caught a wide forearm as Uvogin grabbed his shoulder.</p><p>	“Whoa! Hey, I got you,” the enhancer reassured, “Didn’t know you were leaning on the door.” </p><p>	“Tried to tell him,” Feitan added in from the other side of the car as he started grabbing duffle bags from the center seat. “Didn’t listen.” </p><p>	Shalnark just hummed in response, still only half awake despite the sudden scare. Uvo’s arms were comfortably warm against his skin as the enhancer’s palm settled around his bicep. Uvogin’s other hand moved across his back as he tentatively pulled the blond through the open truck door. Shal just let himself be guided for once, too tired to care how it looked at that moment. His half-hour napped hadn’t helped at all; if anything, he felt more exhausted. Still, now that they’d arrived at their meetup location, there were things that he needed to do. There was no time to sleep just yet.</p><p>	He picked his head up and surveyed what he could see around Uvogin’s massive frame. They were parked in front of a two-story strip-mall style hotel well on the city’s outskirts, painted in dated pastel shades with stained white trim. Feitan was standing to the side of the car, leaning across the bench seat to pass duffle bags to the ground outside, but Nobunaga and Phinks had made no move to exit the vehicle. </p><p>	“Where are the others?” he asked Uvo after clearing the roughness of sleep from his throat. </p><p>	“Inside somewhere probably,” the enhancer replied, “We just got here. Franklin said he’d go let them know.” </p><p>	“OK, Feitan and I should find Machi and-” he fought back a yawn before continuing with a soft smile, “Figure out how to remove the nen flowers. Then we need to meet with danchou and figure out what we’re doing next…  Likely, we’ll just disband for now, but I think danchou might know something we don’t, so… we’ll need to discuss.”</p><p>	“Are you sure you wanna do all that now?” Uvo asked as he turned around and allowed the blond to wrap his arms over the other man’s shoulders. The enhancer slid his hands under Shal’s legs and lifted him easily, both of them more familiar with the process by now. “No one will blame you if you conk out for a while.” </p><p>	“No, it’s OK,” he reassured, “It’s the middle of the day anyway. I’ll stay up.” They left the car and headed to the large concrete walkway that signaled where the hotel began, and the parking lot ended. Feitan had gone ahead and stood next to one of the now open hotel rooms, arms haphazardly full of duffle bags. As they approached the room, the truck engine rumbled to life again as Nobunaga pulled away from the curb. Shalnark looked back at them quizically.</p><p>	“Dumping the car,” Fei explained, repositioning a bag over his shoulder before he headed into the dimly lit room. “Just in case.”</p><p>	Shal replied with a nod, even though the transmuter wouldn’t see it, and rested his chin on Uvo’s shoulder as the enhancer ducked to fit through the doorway without smacking his head or Shalnark’s knees on the door frame. The blond had to pull his legs tight around Uvo’s stomach to make sure his feet, or worse, the small needles in his legs, didn’t brush the wall. </p><p>	The hotel was exactly what he’d expected from the outside; two full-sized beds with thinned, dated comforters loosely tucked over sheets that were likely suspiciously stained took up most of the space. There was a window immediately to their left covered with cheap, off white curtains and a small padded sitting chair snugged up in the corner. A four-panel door was positioned directly across from the front door, past both beds, but besides that, the room was bare. </p><p>	When Uvogin moved towards the first bed, Shalnark tapped his shoulder in protest. “Can you put me in the chair instead?” he requested. Uvo shot him a questionable glance over his shoulder; the chair in the corner looked like it was on its last legs, both figuratively and literally. The upholstered back was peeling off in one corner, and it was perched on three legs, the fourth just a bit too short to touch the floor. But before the enhancer could speak, he added, “It’ll make doing first-aid easier.” </p><p>	That wasn’t a lie, but the primary reason was that Shalnark was hoping it would be harder for him to doze off in an uncomfortable chair versus a likely also uncomfortable bed. Uvo took the half-truth without question and set him down in the maroonish upholstered seat. It was just as discomforting as it looked, hardwood covered in a thin layer of padding and cloth worn down by countless years of abuse, but it was still better than anything he’d found in Meteor City. </p><p>	He flicked on the side table lamp and laid his arm out in the yellowish light to inspect the nen fibers again. Now that he was out of a moving car, it was a little easier to make out details along the delicate edges. The light caught on them irregularly, glittering intermittently across each strand. He slowly and meticulously ran a single finger up the side of one of the needles. When he went away from his skin, it felt smooth and featureless, but rough edges caught his fingertip when he went the opposite direction. It seemed like his earlier theory had been correct; they were barbed. </p><p>	“Hey, Fei,” he called through the room. After a brief moment, the transmuter poked his head out of the open bathroom door. “I was right! They’re barbed. I think we’ll need Machi’s needles to get them out.” The other man nodded wordlessly and disappeared back through the doorway. </p><p>“Do those hurt?” Uvo asked. Shalnark turned to the enhancer, who had taken a seat on the bed and absentmindedly watched as the blond examine his injuries.</p><p>“Hmm? Oh, a little. I’ve had worse. We all have,” he replied, feeling oddly sentimental, “Remember the time I broke my arm on one of my first heists with the troupe, and I was so embarrassed that I tried to hide it?” he said with a laugh that increased in volume as he recalled the story.</p><p>Uvo guffawed loudly at the memory. “Yeah! It was so obvious.” He brushed the back of Shalnark’s hand so lightly, it almost felt accidental. “You were so young back then,” he reminisced in a casual tone.</p><p>“So were you,” the blond said with a soft smile, rotating his hand next to Uvo’s until the side of his palm nudged the enhancer’s fingers. “It’s strange to think how far we’ve come since then.” </p><p>Uvo turned his rough palm against Shalnark’s and ran their fingers together in a way that felt both nonchalant and fiercely intimate. “I knew we would,” he said with a brazen grin, “We’re the Phantom Troupe! Strongest band of thieves out there.” </p><p>Shalnark couldn’t remember the last time he’d held hands with someone. When he was a child, there’d been times when someone would grab his hand to lead him through the rubble, but that was more for their convenience than his comfort. This kind of hand-holding was a sappy, novelettish thing that invoked images of doe-eyed teenagers and puppy-love couples. That kind of sentimentality was as foreign to him, to anyone who had the misfortune of calling Meteor City home. There was simply no place for it; that’s what he had assumed. Uvo’s hand was warmer than he’d expected, hefty fingers slotted between his own. He experimentally curled his fingers around the enhancer’s palm until his fingertips brushed Uvo’s knuckles.</p><p>The door to his right opened with the sound of rolling tumblers, and he jerked his hand back reflexively, wincing as the motion sent a twinge of pain through his forearm. He shook off his disproportionately started reaction with a laugh as Machi entered the room. </p><p>“Hey! Machi,” he greeted with a smile. He could see Uvogin’s hand still resting on the end table in the corner of his eye.</p><p>“What mess have you two idiots gotten in now?” She replied in place of a traditional greeting, glancing around the room for Feitan. </p><p>Shalnark chuckled again at her reply. She’d always had a roundabout way of showing worry. “Do you have any hypodermic needles, or are they all solid?” he asked after a moment. </p><p>“Solid. They’re sewing needles; you know that,” she said as Feitan exited the bathroom, the barest hint of pale skin visible under his dark cloak. Shalnark figured he’d been finding a way to expose the injured skin on his legs without pulling the needles out through the fabric of his pant leg. </p><p>The manipulator hummed as he reconsidered their options. If Machi happened to have any hollow needles, his idea had been to slide them over the thin fibers and pierce them around the area to disengage any residual nen. Then they would be able to pull them out, doing only minimal damage to the surrounding area. </p><p>“If these leave small nen-infused barbs in our skin, would you be able to remove them?” he asked Machi as she shooed Uvo off of the couch with a flippant hand motion. The enhancer shot her a look but moved without comment. </p><p>She grabbed Shalnark’s wrist and pulled his arm further over the nightstand indiscriminately as she took a seat on the bed. Using gyo, she examined the residual nen in the filaments with a critical gaze before dropping the blond’s arm. “Most likely,” she answered. </p><p>“So…” Feitan cut in, “Rip them out?” He took a seat on the far corner of the beg and began prodding inquisitively at the exposed fibers near his ankle. </p><p>Shal laughed softly, “Seems like that’s our best option after all.” As he finished speaking, the transmuter grabbed a filament between his thumb and forefinger and wrenched it out wordlessly. Shalnark watched as Fei’s brow twitched ever so slightly underneath his dark fringe. “That bad?” he joked.</p><p>The transmuter didn’t reply, too occupied with the task at hand. Machi sighed and stood from the bed to see if her needles would be needed to remove residual barbs as Feitan yanked out a second filament. </p><p>Uvogin reclaimed his spot across from the manipulator and watched as Shal glanced between Feitan’s back and the fibers in his arm. “You just have to yank these out, right?” the enhancer asked, “Need help?” </p><p>“Ah, no,” he replied with a soft smile meant to reassure both Uvogin and himself, “I’ll do it.” The fiber was rough, like coarse animal hair between his fingertips as he pinched it hard. Immediately the muscle that ran along the underside of his arm started shaking, quivers reverberating through the tendons of his wrist. Before he could think about it too much, he pulled back hard, and the fiber slid against his skin like a tiny serrated knife before his grip faltered halfway out. His hand grazed the back of the lampshade as he swore under his breath, about half a centimeter of filament still lodged in the back of his forearm. </p><p>“Oh, oops,” he let out a short chuckle that was mostly air. “It slipped.” After a quick exhale, he grabbed it again and tugged it the rest of the way out, dropping the lightly bloodied fiber on the nightstand. A small drop of blood oozed languidly out of the puncture wound, but the concentrated stinging pain began to dissipate almost immediately. </p><p>Uvo’s mouth screwed up to the side as he watched Shalnark reach for the second needle in his arm. “Maybe you should let someone else do that,” he suggested, placing his hand on the blond’s wrist when he didn’t pause. “C’mon, just let someone help you out. It’d probably hurt way less.” </p><p>“It doesn’t hurt that bad,” he said, dismissing the enhancer’s suggestion. “It’ll be faster if I do it. Your hands are way too big to grab these anyway.”  </p><p>“They’re not <em>that</em> big,” he refuted in a subtly miffed tone, “I could do it.” </p><p>Shalnark looked up at him without moving his head. “Uvo, your hands are the size of dinner plates, quite literally <em>dinner plates</em>, well, luncheon plates if I’m being technical.” The enhancer’s face soured, but before he could speak, Shal added, “What? It’s not an insult! It’s just true.” </p><p>Glancing back down, he tugged the second filament in his arm hard without warning; like ripping a bandaid off, he told himself. Same as the last one, it caught in the wound about halfway up, forcing him to pull twice to extract it fully. The tiny, saw-toothed edges tore his skin with raw, stinging pain, but once it was out, the lemon-juice feeling steadily faded out into a dull bite. </p><p>He flicked the discarded fiber down on the end table with a tired but satisfied grin as Machi walked back over and plucked a needle from the pincushion on the back of her wrist. “Feitan is done,” she informed them, stoping to stand over the blond with a hand on her hip. “Give me your arm.” </p><p>“You know one of my favorite things about you? Your bedside manner,” Shalnark teased jovially but complied regardless. She grabbed his wrist and examined the two lightly bloodied puncture wounds discriminantly before positioning her needle over one and slotting it sharply like a dart in a dartboard.</p><p>“Ow!” the blond yelped, forcing himself not to pull his arm back. It didn’t hurt more than removing the filaments, but the feeling of cool steel piercing through a fresh wound was still enough to make his teeth grind. </p><p>“Relax, you baby, it’s just like a shot,” Machi responded without looking up. She held the needle in for a moment longer before plucking it out with deft fingers. </p><p>“That’s not at all like a shot!” he argued as she repeated the process with the other wound. He braced and successfully stifled the urge to flinch. </p><p>Machi dropped his arm and glanced down towards the floor at the thin fibers protruding from his legs. “You still haven’t gotten those?” she questioned, sounding slightly inconvenienced. </p><p>“It’s cause he needs someone to help him,” Uvogin cut in, “but apparently I can’t cause my hands are <em>‘too big.’</em>”</p><p>The pink-haired transmuter raised an eyebrow at Uvo’s off-the-cuff comment as Shalark looked at the enhancer, expression equal parts exasperated and dumbfounded, all half-concealed behind a smile. “Ask Fei then,” she replied after a moment, “I’m going back to my room. Just call me when you’re done.” </p><p>Feitan had vanished momentarily behind the bathroom door, but he reappeared at the sound of his name with a fresh pair of pants concealing the nearly healed puncture wounds on his legs. He moved past Machi as she left the room and stood next to the window, cowl pulled down below his chin. </p><p>“I’ll help,” he said, looking at Shalnark until the blond met his eyes. </p><p>“Ah-ha no, it’s OK,” Shal laughed sheepishly, but his reply was swallowed up by Uvogin shouting over him.</p><p>“Great!” the enhancer replied exuberantly, voice too loud next to the manipulator’s ear. Fei grabbed one of the looped chair arms and pulled it a few feet closer to the bed with a short tug. </p><p>“Liked Uvo’s answer better,” he explained, taking a seat next to Uvogin on the bed. He patted the small space on the mattress between them once. “Leg here.” </p><p>“I guess I shouldn’t have tried to out stubborn an enhancer, huh?” he relented with a scoff. His thigh shook as he started to lift his leg from the chair, so he gripped a hand around the back of his knee and forced his leg up. Uvo reached forward and pulled his ankle the rest of the way up until his leg was resting in the half-foot gap between Feitan and the enhancer. He muttered thanks under his breath and leaned back in the scarcely padded chair with a huff. </p><p>Fei wasted no time cutting the cotton material away from the jutting filaments with nearly surgical precision. Shalnark leaned forward curiously and surveyed the fibers; he counted eight in this leg scattered from just above his ankle to directly underneath his knee. Most had sunk into the muscle, but three or four of them were shallowly embedded, having been stopped by the sturdy bone in his shin. </p><p>He looked away as the transmuter firmly pinched the filament closest to his ankle between two fingers, and smiled when his eyes found Uvo’s. He tried to think of something to say, anything to say to distract himself. “Did you ever get breakfast?” he asked, wincing at the twinge of pain as Fei removed the first fiber with a quick tug. </p><p>“Uh, no,” Uvo replied, hand hovering somewhere above Shal’s leg as the transmuter dexterously removed another dandelion filament. “Did you? I know Nobu was gonna get some stuff.”</p><p>The blond nodded his head tensely as Feitan plucked one that had been buried particularly deep in the muscle beside his tibia. “Mmhmm, Fei and I ate in the car,” he replied over a short gasp. He gripped the chair arm hard and laughed nonsensically through the pain as Feitan pulled out three more that were grouped together in quick succession. Without any nen or aura to soften the blow, each fiber felt like a tiny serrated knife grinding against his skin.</p><p>“Two more,” the transmuter assured as he tugged one of the two situated below his knee before removing the second as well without a pause. “Done.” </p><p>“Ha, with that leg,” Shal added with a short, breathy giggle as he surveyed the tiny wounds across his leg. Each prick was accented by a deep red pearl of blood, striking against his pale skin. It reminded him of an inverted constellation. </p><p>“Next then,” Fei pushed his foot lightly off the bed, “I’m quick. Promise.” </p><p>“It’s funny how transferable torture and interrogation skills are to first-aid,” Shalnark mused jokingly as he sorely shifted his other leg up to the mattress.</p><p>“Very similar, actually,” he replied, grabbing the blond’s ankle and positioning him on the duvet. “Both have to know how bodies work… have to know what hurts, what doesn’t.”</p><p>He cut the fabric away from Shal’s leg while he talked to reveal four fibers mostly concentrated on the inner part of his calf. As he pinched one of the filaments, the blond tensed and looked to Uvo again. </p><p>“So, what’re you up to after-,” he clenched his throat around a whine as Fei wrenched the first fiber, “after we disband?” </p><p>“Probably head back to Meteor, maybe see what Nobu is up to,” the enhancer replied, putting his hand on Shal’s knee casually. The blond tensed again as Fei pulled a fiber from his calf. “What ‘bout you? You have a little apartment somewhere you go back to, right?” </p><p>“Mmhmm, sometimes. I mostly use it for storage,” he said. Several of the spiders had technical residences in various cities, usually under false names since, according to official government records, they didn’t exist. However, very few of them stayed in any one place consistently. His studio on the outskirts of Yorknew was a dingy little thing he rented from a shady older lady who didn’t ask too many questions. It somehow felt even less like a home than Meteor City’s trash-filled streets.  </p><p>A pearl of blood slipped hotly across his skin as Feitan plucked the last two dandelion filaments from his leg and dropped them on the floor with the others. He counted in his head; eight in one leg, four in the other, two in his arm, fourteen total. A glance at his forearm revealed that Machi’s nen had already turned the fresh wounds to barely visible needle marks along his skin, even without the assistance of his own nen. </p><p>“Whew, not so bad,” he chuckled listlessly. He felt his phone pressing against his leg but was hesitant to take it out and call Machi. The idea of her needles shooting back through the raw punctures in his legs sent a sick, dizzy feeling through his head. Medical procedures had never made him faint in the past, but he’d never had to endure anything like this while simultaneously recovering from extended Auto-pilot usage. “Did anyone grab the juice I was drinking in the car?” he asked, deciding to fight the incoming wave of vertigo as much as possible before Machi returned. </p><p>Before he got a reply, the door opened with a rattle. Shalnark felt his shoulders tense but let out a relieved exhale when he caught sight of a green tracksuit and a blond head of hair. “New car’s out front,” Phinks said, setting a couple of grocery bags on the floor nonchalantly, “How’s the whole needle thing going?” </p><p>“Almost done,” he replied with a smile, swallowing around the subtle sick feeling in his gut, “Just need Machi to clear out the barbs. Fei’s already good to go.”</p><p>The blond enhancer nodded stoically as he fished some food out of one of the bags and moved across the room to pull his backpack from the pile. “She’s outside talking with Paku right now,” he informed them as he shouldered his bag and walked back to the door. “Want me to grab her?” </p><p>“Oh, OK, sure,” Shal replied with a half-smile, one hand tightening around the rigid wooden armrest, “Thank you!” </p><p>Phinks just grunted in response as he left the room, not bothering to close the door behind him. Feitan rose as he left and followed the enhancer out, likely to see if he knew their shared room’s location in the hotel. </p><p>“Hey, you’re looking kind of pale?” Uvo pointed out, warm palm still resting on the manipulator’s knee. </p><p>“What? No,” he laughed shallowly, “I’m fine. Just- I just need something to drink.” </p><p>“Oh, right! Juice, you said,” he stood from the bed with a grin, “Here I’ll, uh,” Shal’s lightly bloodied leg was trapping his large frame. He pushed it off the mattress lightly as the blond assisted with a soft apology. “One sec,” the enhancer said as he slid by Shal as carefully as he could manage. He grabbed a bottle from one of the plastic bags with a rustle and flipped it over to read the label. As he turned back towards the bed, juice bottle dwarfed in one hand, Machi strolled through the door frame, pulling a needle deftly from her wrist. </p><p>“Alright, let’s make this quick,” she said, waiting behind Uvo as the enhancer moved along the bed and took his seat next to the headboard, flimsy pillows deflating under his weight. He passed Shalnark the small plastic bottle as Machi took a seat across from him and grabbed the blond’s right ankle capriciously with one hand. </p><p>“Wait, wait,” Shal requested with a short breath as the transmuter positioned a needle over his skin. Machi looked up at him quizzically as he took another deep breath and cracked the bottle’s perforated seal, taking a quick drink before setting it back between his legs. “I- OK,” he finished, not wanting to keep Machi waiting. </p><p>He dipped his head back against the top edge of the chair and forced his eyes to focus on a tiny shadow on the popcorn ceiling as she stuck the needle in with a quick motion, holding it still in the wound for a moment before pulling it out and moving to the next. He let out a tight, misplaced laugh as the blood drained from his face. Mechanically, he understood what was happening, a sudden drop in blood pressure, vasovagal syncope. He closed his eyes and took a few more deep breaths to chase away the cool, clammy feeling across his skin. </p><p>“Hey, Shal?” Uvo’s voice sounded next to him, “You OK? She’s almost done, I think.” </p><p>“Ha, ha, yeah,” he giggled tensely, still keeping his eyes shut. Despite knowing it was probably the least effective way to communicate, he found himself reverting to technical definitions instead of just describing how he was feeling. “Do you know… vasovagal syncope?” </p><p>“Vaso- what?” the enhancer questioned. Shalnark let out an audible exhale as he felt Machi’s needle hit bone. </p><p>“Vasovagal syncope. It’s when your blood pressure drops… as a disproportionate reaction to something,” he explained. Machi pulled her needle from the puncture closest to his knee and pulled his other leg up onto the mattress.  “Like when people dramatically faint in movies,” he added with a short chuckle. </p><p>“OK? Wait, are you gonna pass out?” Uvo asked, leaning forward unthinkingly and putting a broad hand on Shalnark’s arm.</p><p>He shook his head tensely. “No,” he replied as cool steel slipped into one of the fresh wounds on his calf, “Ah-ha, maybe.” </p><p>“Tch, you’re so dramatic,” Machi chastised without any real bite in her voice, “Just two more.” </p><p>Shal just nodded once, taking a few more deep breaths as he opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling again. He tried to focus on the feeling of Uvo’s warm palm around his bicep as the needle slid out of one of the wounds. He gripped the juice bottle hard in his other hand as Machi darted the final needle in, pausing for an agonizingly long second, before pulling it out and standing from the bed with a huff.</p><p>“There, done,” she declared, wiping the needle off with a spare strip of cloth. “Don’t get in any more trouble. I won’t save your ass next time.” </p><p>He wanted to reply, ‘<em>yes, you would,’</em> but all that came out was a queasy giggle as he pitched his body forward as far as he could with his legs still propped up on the mattress to help send the blood back to his head. He pulled his knees back until his feet fell to the floor and tried to drop his head between his knees, but Uvo’s firm grip stopped him. </p><p>“Whoa, hey, are you passing out?” the enhancer asked unhelpfully as Shalnark reached up to push his wrist away.</p><p>“No, it’s a first-aid thing, Uvo,” he reasoned, “If you’re faint… you put your head down to help circulate blood.” </p><p>Uvogin stopped pushing against his arm but kept his hand in place. “Wouldn’t it be better just to lie down?” Uvo questioned, feeling pretty confident that he was correct. The enhancer might not have been exceptionally versed in medicinal terminology the same way Shalnark was, but he wasn’t dumb, and he’d had his fair share of injuries to treat in the past. </p><p>Shalnark didn’t reply, face obscured by blond hair, and the enhancer correctly interpreted that as a yes. “Alright, c’mere,” Uvo said, standing from the bed and moving his other hand across the blond’s chest. He slipped his hands under Shal’s arms, fingers wrapping around his ribcage, and plucked him from the chair. The springs pressed against Shalnark’s shoulder blades as he let the enhancer set him down on the bed flat on his back. </p><p>He pressed his hands over his eyes, holding his elbows close to his chest so his triceps wouldn’t strain, and giggled as Uvo’s hands left him. “It’s stupid how strong you are,” he ribbed, voice coming out lower than he anticipated. </p><p>“It’s <em>great </em>how strong I am, <em>actually,” </em>Uvo countered as he sat on the floor, back to the mattress. </p><p>The blond hummed in response as the dizzy feeling started to ebb out slowly. Machi’s nen had reduced the stinging pain in his legs to a barely noticeable twinge. “What time is it?” he asked, strangely uncomfortable with the silence.</p><p>“Uhh,” Uvogin looked around the room for a clock, phone inaccessibly tucked away in his bag somewhere. He turned his head over the mattress, unruly hair brushing Shalnark’s side. “Almost two.” </p><p>“Give me ten minutes,” the manipulator requested, “then we should meet up… talk about what’s going on.” He drew in a deep, full chested breath and turned onto his side languidly, sore muscles protesting the movement. Light shone in through the pale stained curtains, reflecting off the dark flyaways around Uvogin’s head. He shut his eyes to block out the glare and slid a hand around the corner of the compressed pillow under his head. </p><p>The exhaustion he’d felt in the car crept back over his limbs, blurring together with the residual lightheadedness. He heard Uvo shift beside him and felt a thick forearm rest beside his own as the enhancer’s fingers brushed the back of his knuckles with an uncharacteristic amount of hesitance. </p><p>Uvogin nudged the space where his thumb met his palm and spoke in an unexpectedly low voice next to his ear. “Is this OK?” </p><p>Without thinking, he replied with an affirmative noise and exhaled into the duvet as Uvo’s warm hand slipped underneath his own, fingers knotting together. He should’ve said no, he thought somewhere in the back of his mind. The idea of holding hands with someone like this knotted his stomach up like a balloon animal at a cheap fair; it was too saccharine, too sentimental, too… loving. People like them just didn’t get sweet love like that.</p><p>But his argumentative thoughts were overtaken by the pull of sleep and the feeling of Uvo’s thumb reverently tracing circles on the back of his hand.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>An alternate title for this whole thing is "emotionally unavailable man tries his best for 25,000 words"</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Morning Glory</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He blinked his eyes open to darkness, waning crescent moon still too dim to illuminate the cream curtains that blocked the hotel room’s single, two-pane window. In the corner of his eye, he could see a weak red light shining from a digital clock on the nightstand. A thin, stitched blanket twisted around his legs as he turned over with a soft groan, feeling an identical duvet shift beneath his elbows. Glaring fluorescent numbers informed him that it was 4:02am. </p><p>Further off to his left, he could see a shabby wooden bed frame propped vertically up against the wall, stripped of its bedding. Below it was Uvo’s distinctly large form spilling out onto the floor over a sheet-covered twin mattress. Before he could contemplate the fact that Uvogin had chosen to share a room with him instead of one of his usual roommates, he swallowed and nearly choked over his own unbearably dry throat. Water first, aggravating romantic crisis later, he decided. </p><p>	There was still a deep ache in his shoulders, but for the first time in days, he was able to push himself up without worrying that his arms would collapse beneath him. He was still quite far from being in top shape, but the improvement was more than welcome. He slid his legs off the edge of the bed and stood slowly, hotel carpet rough and uneven beneath his feet. Uvo groaned on the floor in front of him and flopped onto his back with a sigh, still seemingly asleep. His legs felt coltish as he teetered across the rooms, thigh muscles taut with the effort, but he managed to make it around the bed to the discarded pile of groceries by the door. Two bags sat deflated on the ground exactly where he remembered them. Shalnark placed a palm on the wall and kneeled slowly, tucking one leg behind him until his knee clacked on the floor. Slowly, he sank down to his shins and sat over his heels allowing him to lift his support hand from the wall and leaf through one of the bags. </p><p>The other spiders had picked over their small stash of communal provisions quite thoroughly, but there were still a few unwanted water bottles tucked against the bottom seam of the bag closest to him. He grabbed one and wrenched the cap off, breaking the perforated seal with a plastic cracking sound. The water felt cool as it slid down his throat and steadily relieved him of the tacky, arid feeling in his mouth. He set the open bottle between his legs and took a few breaths before downing the other half just as quickly. </p><p>Shifting back until his weight toppled off of his heels, he stretched his legs out and examined the pinpricks along his shins. Machi’s nen had neatly stitched the punctures closed, and they were barely visible in the low light, just little red dots of scar tissue that would fade into clear, pale skin within the month. </p><p>He curled his legs back underneath him and slowly rose to stand. The heels of his hands pressed into the stiff mattress corner as he used the bed to push his body up until his hips leveled out over his knees. Instead of walking back around the bed, he flopped back on the mattress with a huff, eyes opening wide in surprise when the old metal springs squealed beneath him at a volume he hadn’t anticipated. </p><p>Uvo grumbled and muttered something under his breath in the corner of Shalnark’s vision before shifting up to his elbows. “Shal?” the enhancer called, squinting across the darkened room. </p><p>“Ah, sorry,” he answered with a soft, sheepish laugh that was mostly air, “I didn’t mean to wake you.” </p><p>“Mm, s’OK,” Uvogin mumbled as his eyes adjusted to the low light. He pushed one hand on the mattress beneath him until he could peer over the other bed. “How’re you feeling?” he asked, finding Shal’s green eyes in the dark.</p><p>The blond rolled onto his side to face Uvo and watched the way the dim red light cast shadows across his face. “Better,” he replied with a grin, “I walked a whole four meters without falling on my ass.” The enhancer shifted further back, calves sliding along the end of the mattress, making it appear comically small. Shal giggled, “It looks like you’re laying on a dollhouse bed.” </p><p>“It <em>feels</em> like I’m laying on a doll bed,” Uvo countered with a huff, “Seriously, this thing is fucking tiny.” </p><p>“Mmhmm, about 190 centimeters,” he agreed, pointing his toes until they hung off the end of the bed, “Close to my height.” </p><p>The enhancer let out a short whistle, “Damn, that’s short.”</p><p> </p><p>“<em>No</em>, it’s not,” he laughed with a defensive twinge, “You’re just too tall. Even an extra-large king mattress would be too small for you.”</p><p>“Yeah, you think I don’t know that?” Uvo replied with a short chuckle followed by a groan as his elbow slipped off onto the carpet again. “Uhg, I should’ve just slept on the floor.” </p><p>Shalnark watched the defined muscles along the enhancer’s back move as he pushed himself to his feet, small muscles along his spine tensing as he rolled his shoulders back languidly. The red glow from the digital clock that accentuated the hard lines across his skin reminded Shal of the time. “Hey,” he called, a chastising tone to his voice, “You were supposed to wake me up <em>yesterday</em>.” </p><p>“Oh, whoops,” he shrugged, not sounding sorry at all. </p><p>“<em>Uvoo, </em>there was stuff I needed to get done,” Shal complained as the enhancer strode across the room. “Seriously, I needed to discuss some stuff with danchou. It was time-sensitive.” </p><p>“You just seemed really tired,” Uvogin defended himself. He turned to look at the blond before turning back to the bathroom door, one hand on the tacky brass handle. “Couldn’t bring myself to wake you up.”</p><p>The enhancer shut the bathroom door behind him, leaving a strip of yellow light shining across the carpet just out of Shalnark’s view. “Tch, what a sap,” he muttered under his breath as he shifted up onto his elbows and slid back against the headboard. 4:00 was close enough to morning that he usually wouldn’t bother going back to sleep, but he was still recovering and, as much as it pained him to admit, sleeping for a few more hours couldn’t hurt. However, sleeping was all it felt like he had done lately, sleeping and being dead weight for the rest of the troupe. If he thought about it too hard, it made him want to pull his hair out.</p><p>He could feel his phone still pressed reliably against his leg through his pant pocket, and he fished it out, trying to think of something productive he could do for at least an hour or two. But there were no messages that needed answering and nothing on his plate to research, so he ended up setting the glowing screen down on his leg with a frustrated pout. </p><p>Yellow fluorescent light spilled across the room, forcing him to blink the sudden glare from his eyes before Uvogin turned off the bathroom light and shut the door. The enhancer walked a few steps towards his makeshift bed before pausing, broad form illuminated by the digital clock face. </p><p>“You know, I’m not really tired,” Uvo said matter-of-a-factly, pushing the mattress nonchalantly with the ball of his foot.</p><p>Shalnark tapped a finger on the back of his phone. “Me neither,” he confessed; a half-truth.  </p><p>“Really? You still sound a little less… chipper than usual,” the enhancer replied, turning to face him as he took a seat on his destitute bed. “If you’re tired, you should just sleep. I’ll wake you up in the morning if you want.” The blond gave him a narrow-eyed, skeptical look. “Actually, this time,” he added.</p><p>“Ha,” Shal barked out a short laugh. “Unlikely. I know I’d wake up sometime around noon, if that, and you’d just tell me <em>‘aw, but you looked tired.’</em>”</p><p>Uvo scoffed loudly but didn’t reply, and the blond giggled at his lack of denial. “Fine then. Set an alarm or something if you don’t believe me,” the enhancer huffed. Even in the low light, Shalnark could see his brow furrowed heavily over his eyes. </p><p>“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Uvo,” Shal assured him, taking in the other man’s nearly pouty expression with a soft, amused smile. Uvogin was far from the type to worry about what other people thought, but with people he genuinely cared about, he could be surprisingly sensitive. “It’s sweet how much of a sap you can be. I’ve just been sleeping too much. It’s throwing me off. I need to <em>actually</em> start being productive.” </p><p>“Do you really?” Uvo countered, his tone implying that it wasn’t a question. “This heist was a bust, and we’re all disbanding for now. Danchou didn’t mention anything else to look out for. Unless you got some personal projects, is there anything you <em>really </em>need to be doing right now, or do you just feel like you <em>should </em>be doing something?” </p><p>Shalnark blinked back at him owlishly through the dark, briefly caught off guard by Uvo’s assessment. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, the enhancer was right on the money. Shal knew he was craving the feeling of productivity more than anything else, and it was making him eager to cut his recovery time short. Despite the accuracy of Uvogin’s statement, knowing that the other man had seen through him so clearly made him feel unguarded and transparent in a way he hadn’t been expecting. However, that seemed to be the theme that had followed him the past few days; unwelcome vulnerability. </p><p>“There’s- I’m sure there’s something that needs to be done,” he justified as he looked away from Uvo’s face, the enhancer’s expression soft and nonjudgmental in a way that only people close to him knew how to read. </p><p>“Yeah, you,” Uvo replied. Shalnark looked back at him quizzically and watched the moment Uvogin’s eyes widened as he spotted the innuendo in his statement. “No! Fuck, wait- I mean youneed to focus on <em>yourself. </em>Not- dammit, I should’ve phrased that different. Just take some downtime, is all I’m sayin’.”</p><p>Shalnark cackled as the enhancer fumbled to explain, hand resting over his ribs as the fit of laugher shook the muscles in his stomach until they ached. ”So, you’re not suggesting my problems would be solved if someone would just do me?” he teased as his giggles subsided, “Just anyone? No one in particular?”</p><p>“No, no, that’s not what I was saying, and you know it!” Uvo countered, pointing a jovially accusatory finger at the blond. “I don’t think banging would be great for your recovery anyway; physical exertion and all, you know.”</p><p>Shal hummed and suppressed a yawn as he leaned further back into the headboard. “Oh, so you <em>did</em> have someone in mind,” he continued to joke. The teasing smile was momentarily wiped from his face as the yawn he failed to stifle forced him to inhale. He tried to cover it with a hand over his mouth, but that only made it more apparent. </p><p>“See, look,” Uvo motioned towards him, “You’re clearly still tired. Just go back to bed already.”</p><p>“Don’t wanna,” he replied, the tail end of the yawn slurring his words. “What’re you gonna do? Just sit on the floor for the next couple of hours and stare at the wallpaper?” </p><p>“Bah, don’t worry about me. I’ll find something to do,” Uvo dismissed his concerns with a wave of his hand. </p><p>Shal wrinkled his nose in discontent at his answer, which prompted a scoff from Uvogin. “What? Do you want me to leave?” the enhancer questioned a hint of exasperation in his tone.</p><p>“No! I mean- no, that’s not what I meant.” Shalnark rushed to respond before reining himself in with a half-hearted explanation. “It’s just- ah, forget it.”</p><p>“Forget it? Ha! Now you have to tell me,” Uvo immediately replied, stretching one leg out on the floor with an uncomfortable exhale. The manipulator just looked away, eyes resting somewhere past the corner of the bed, hands fiddling with the outline of his phone through his pocket. “C’mon,” the enhancer pressed, “What is it? It’s just gonna bother me now. What’s rattling around in that big brain of yours?” </p><p>“Nothing, nothing. I just thought that maybe if we pushed the mattresses together, you’d be able to lay down and actually sleep and then we could both sleep; solve both our problems, two birds with one stone or whatever,” Shalnark answered hesitantly as he avoided Uvo’s eyes in an uncharacteristically shy way. “The beds still wouldn’t be longer, though. It’s not really a well-thought-out idea, so just forget about it,” he tacked onto the end of his explanation in a rushed tone. </p><p>“Hey, wait,” Shalnark met his eyes as the enhancer tried to cut off his dismissal. “We could do that,” Uvogin replied, “If that’s what you want. Even if the mattresses are still way too goddamn short, the extra space would be great. But only if that’s what you want.” </p><p>Conflicted feelings swirled in Shalnark’s gut, opposite emotions tumultuously churning together like oil and water. An unreserved part of his brain jumped to remind him that, <em>of course, that’s what he wanted. </em>When he’d dozed off against the enhancer’s shoulder as Uvogin had carried him from the impromptu battlefield, he’d embarrassingly and full-heartedly yearned for the feeling of falling asleep against the enhancer’s side, head nestled in the divot below his collarbone. And again, when Uvo led him back to the abandoned house, the urge had reared its head for a second time, strong enough to topple him over in the doorway, straight back into the other man’s chest. </p><p>In a simpler world, he would’ve leaped from the bed as fast as his overworked muscles allowed and collapsed into the enhancer’s arms without a second thought. He knew exactly what he wanted from a purely hedonistic aspect, but they didn’t have the privilege to kneel to their emotions without a second thought like that. They were Meteor City kids, thieves, and criminals. They were the <em>Phantom Troupe</em>. The parts of the world they occupied were anything but simple, and he knew that love was far from the powerful superlative people claimed it to be. There were a million things more powerful than <em>love, </em>and he’d be stupid to forget that. </p><p>But maybe all of that was a convenient scapegoat for something more complicated, something older and faceless, instilled deep within him. He had the self-awareness to recognize that possibility, but he wasn’t sure if he had the desire to confront it. Underneath his innocent yearning to fall asleep curled in the arms of the one person he’d found the ever rare feeling of safety in, there was a heavy, gnarled feeling that made his chest feel tight and his hands clench into fists. Fear, he named the emotion clinically, it was fear. Fear of vulnerability, of intimacy, of allowing someone to know him in a way no one ever had, of rejection? <em>Maybe</em>, he thought, or perhaps it was simply the fear of things out of his control. </p><p>The idea that he was driving himself away from Uvogin because of something like fear left a bitter taste like vomit in the back of his throat. He was many horrid things; greedy, cold-hearted, manipulative, self-indulgent. Those were things he could accept, but a coward? He let out a shaky breath and made a choice. </p><p>“...yes,” he replied in a voice softer than he’d intended, glancing over to meet Uvo’s gaze. His eyes settled to the side of the enhancer’s head instead, and he focused on how the low red light reflected off of each wayward strand. “That’s what I want.”</p><p>“OK, great!” Uvo answered with a wide grin. Whether the enhancer was genuinely oblivious to his internal plight or decided to bulldoze past it, Shalnark wasn’t certain. Still, he was grateful for it one way or the other. Shal shifted his legs carefully over the side of the bed, tensing as his foot brushed the enhancer’s ankle where he sprawled out on the floor. Uvogin pulled his legs underneath him and stood in a single motion, letting out a tired, hoarse groan as he rolled his shoulders back, stretching the long muscles over his spine. </p><p>“Here,” the enhancer extended a broad palm in his direction. Shalnark paused for a breath, watching how the low light reflected across all the fine lines across Uvo’s fingers, before taking the outstretched hand and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. He wobbled subtly back and forth over his toes a few times but felt surefooted enough to release the enhancer’s hand and take a few steps away from the bed. He absentmindedly pressed his hand up and down along one thigh, trying to massage the overly tense muscle as Uvogin shoved the bed further across the room, shoddy wooden frame creaking loudly as the motion put pressure on every loosely screwed joint. </p><p>Once Uvogin was satisfied with the space he’d freed up in the center of the room, he stood upright with his hands on his hips and glanced over his shoulder. Shalnark hadn’t moved, still stood coltishly next to the nightstand, one finger anxiously tapping the back of his phone through his pants pocket. Nervousness wasn’t an emotion he often experienced; excitement? Sure. Cautiousness? On occasion. But rarely ever genuine nervousness. He recognized that it was foolish. There was no reason to be anxious, no sensible explanation to the way his pulse was hammering faster through his veins. But still, he found himself frozen in place as some traitorous part of his body refused to yield to logical thought.</p><p>They held each other’s gaze in silence for a moment, green eyes alertly scanning for any hint of emotion to ease his over-anxious inner rambling before Uvogin spoke, “You wanna sit down? I’ll only be a sec.”</p><p>“Oh,” Shalnark replied dumbly on pure reflex before he realized how embarrassingly visible his internal conflict had been broadcasting through his expression. “I- ah-ha,” he chuckled tiredly behind a soft smile and pulled his shoulders back, ignoring the ache it sent along his sides. “Yeah, that mattress probably weighs nothing to you, huh?” </p><p>Shal expected his joke about Uvogin’s strength to be met with a broad grin and some boisterous agreement, but instead, the corner of the enhancer’s mouth screwed up lopsidedly, and he regarded Shalnark with a disbelieving expression. “What’s wrong?” he asked, palms resting unmoving on the duvet-covered mattress.</p><p>“What? What do you mean?” the manipulator questioned back, eyes widening just a fraction as he crossed his arms nonchalantly over his chest, concealing the way his fingers kept moving to fiddle with the hem of his shirt. </p><p>Uvo sighed loudly, breath huffing out through his nose, and turned to face the blond. “You’re not as good a liar as you think you are,” he commented, “Seriously, if you’re rethinking this, that’s fine. Just <em>tell me.</em>”</p><p>“I’m not,” Shalnark was quick to reply, “That’s not it. I think- maybe I’m just tired.” </p><p>Uvogin hummed lowly, one eyebrow cocked just high enough to let the other man know that he wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t push further. With a short tug, he pulled the mattress from the bed frame, taking a long step back as it struck the carpeted floor with a deafening thump. He leaned over with a groan and walked the mattress back across the space, easily pulling it along the rough carpet. Shalnark stumbled as Uvogin approached to make room for the larger man, tripping as his heel caught on the edge of the enhancer’s old bed. </p><p>He let out a clipped, surprised sound as his tailbone hit the thin mattress. The heels of his hands dug into the springs as he caught himself, thankful for the small mercy that his arms didn’t threaten to give out beneath him. There went his ‘not falling on his ass’ record he’d been so proud of earlier. </p><p>“Did you just trip?” Uvo asked over his shoulder, his voice equal parts subtle worry and amusement. Shalnark just let out an affirmative adjacent murmur in response. Craning his head up, he watched as Uvo dropped the mattress a few inches from his feet and took one gargantuan step across the twin-sized bed before turning to face the blond. “I told you you should’ve sat down,” Uvo teased as he kicked the mattress forward with the ball of his foot until it shoved flush against the first, pinning a wayward corner of one of the thin, paisley duvets between the two. Shalnark set his heels on the second mattress and tugged the blanket free with one hand.</p><p>“Woo,” Uvogin exclaimed behind a broad grin as he dropped to the floor beside Shalnark with enough force that the door rattled on its hinges across the hotel room. “This is more like it,” he said, running a hand over the mattress to his side to revel in the added width, “Still short as hell, but damn better than what I’m used to.” </p><p>“Nobu not let you steal both beds to fit your giant ass?” Shal teased as he shifted back so he could lean against the wall. </p><p>“Ha! Hardly,” Uvo barked out a laugh, “Old man gets mad if I make noise past eleven, unless you get him drinking, that is.”</p><p>“Some people need their beauty sleep more than others,” Shal snickered, gratefully falling into their playful banter, allowing the normalcy to ease the tight feeling in his chest. “Who’s the victim of Nobu’s enforced bedtime tonight?”</p><p>“I swapped with Paku, but then I think she swapped with Shizu, and then Machi moved too? I dunno. Got too complicated after that,” the enhancer explained as he scooted back until he could recline against the wall next to Shal. His broad shoulders pressed against the other man’s smaller frame as Shalnark shifted to the side to make room, his bicep still flush against Uvo’s side as he reached the edge of the bed. </p><p>“Is everyone still here?” Shal asked, tipping his head absentmindedly to the side until his blond hair fanned out across Uvo’s upper arm. He could feel the enhancer’s tricep tense under him and shift slightly before relaxing. </p><p>“Nah, I know Bono and Kortopi left last night,” Uvogin answered, “Franklin too.” Shal hummed in response, sinking closer to the enhancer’s side as he took a deep breath low in his lungs, fighting back the urge to yawn. “Nobu and I are planning to take the truck and head back to Meteor in the morning.”</p><p>“Oh,” Shal replied quietly.</p><p>“Do you wanna come with?” Uvo offered, “Nobu won’t mind. I’d feel weird leaving you alone right now anyway.” </p><p>Shalnark just hummed affirmatively around a wide yawn. The enhancer chuckled, “I thought you said you weren’t tired?” </p><p>“I wasn’t then,” Shal defended, sliding further down the wall until his head was level with Uvogin’s elbow. “I am now.” </p><p>“Right,<em> sure</em>,” Uvo replied sarcastically, “C’mon, let’s lay down. Then I’ll stop talking in your ear.” He leaned away from the wall, leaving Shalnark to bob towards the mattress before he picked his head up with an annoyed grunt, and shifted his weight until he freed one of the comforters from under his legs. The centerline between the two mattresses fell just under the enhancer’s shoulder when he shimmied down to lay on the makeshift bed, leaving Shalnark just enough room to lay on his side. The cheap hotel duvet felt surprisingly soft on his bare shoulders as Uvo draped the blanket over him, haphazardly tucking the hem of the comforter between them vaguely reminiscent of the way one would swaddle a child. </p><p>Shalnark immediately pushed the seam back out. “What? Don’t want the blanket to touch you?” he questioned as the enhancer settled on his back. </p><p>“Nope, I’ll overheat in a second. It’s already hot enough in here,” Uvo replied, positioning the single flat pillow behind his head, unruly hair spread across the sheets. </p><p>“Hmm, I forgot you run warm,” Shal mused. He freed his arms from the loosely tucked duvet and nudged Uvo’s elbow with the back of his hand. “Move this. I’m too close to the edge.”</p><p>“What do you mean <em>“move it”</em>? It’s my arm; where’s it supposed to go?” Uvo asked as he pulled his arm away from the blond, forearm straight over his stomach. </p><p>“Don’t be dense,” Shal said as he moved closer to the enhancer’s side, chest flush with the short muscles along the top of Uvo’s ribcage. He nudged the other man’s elbow with the heel of his hand and guided Uvo’s arm lackadaisically over his head. “There,” he asserted, dropping the enhancer’s forearm on the pillow above him. </p><p>Uvo chuckled, shoulder shaking with laugher under the manipulator’s head. “If you wanted me to put my arm around you, you could’ve just asked,” he teased. Shal kicked at Uvo’s leg in response, the ball of his foot grazing along the side of the enhancer’s knee. It just made Uvogin laugher harder. </p><p>The overcautious voices in his head and the persistent unease that had been plaguing him on-and-off since the moment he came to in the dirt to the sight of Uvogin’s face blocking the sun were strangely quiet as he settled his head on the divot below Uvo’s shoulder. His conversation with the enhancer came as easily as ever, and the other man’s body felt strangely familiar against his chest even though he’d never laid that way with anyone. </p><p>At the fringes of his consciousness, he could still see anxious thoughts lurking like little dappled shadows; what was going to happen next? What did romance to people like them even look like? Did he even deserve this? But for once, those worries seemed distant and unimportant, overshadowed by recognizable body heat and the faint smell of peppermint and old spice. </p><p>At that moment, he didn’t know what was going to happen next. He was enveloped in the unknown, in a circumstance entirely outside of his control. Those kinds of situations usually left stones in his stomach and teeth-grinding tension in his jaw. But he felt completely at ease as his eyes drifted shut to the feeling of Uvo’s forearm settling along his back. </p><p>The idea of falling in love flitted through his mind as he drifted off, but he shrugged it off with a sigh. Maybe the warm, pacifying feeling he felt buzzing through the deepest parts of his chest <em>was </em>love. Or perhaps it was the sense of safety that surrounded him in a way he didn’t know he craved. Maybe none of this was love. It was a mythical, undefinable thing that he’d heard referenced <em>ad nauseum</em> his whole life, and he knew that he would just drive himself in circles if he thought about it too hard. </p><p>So, he let the overwhelming urge to contain and label whatever was blooming in his chest slide off his back, feeling lighter than he had in days despite the heavy arm over his shoulders. </p><p>Tomorrow he’d get in the car with Nobunaga and Uvogin and return to the arid landscape that was Meteor City. Maybe when he looked down at his feet and saw the thin, spindly leaves weaving up through the cracks in the concrete, he’d see flowers instead of weeds. After all, the only difference between the two is that flowers are wanted, and he knew now, he wanted this. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Woo, finally finished this. Not to imply that I didn't like writing it, I did have to step away to gather some motivation to write the final chapter, but it's here now. Hope people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!</p>
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